Date: Fri, 16 Feb 2018 05:17:24 +0000 (UTC) From: Bear V. Subject: Bear Meinhard in Barovia 3 This story is based on my memories of playing in the Ravenloft campaign as a teen. I appreciate all the work done by the original Ravenloft authors and published by the DnD company TSR back in the day. As always, please consider donating to Nifty.org. It needs our support to remain a free archive. Thanks in advance for your donation. Chapter 3—More to do! Gertruda was out cold when I went back into the bedroom. The alcohol and poison in her system making sure she wouldn't wake until well past mid day. I saved the other side of the bed for Mary when she came into the room. I moved to an inner corner of the room where I could watch the door and the window in case of intruders and began my evening rituals to help strengthen my bond with my Goddess. As I mentioned, Calistria's real trade was in secrets. I had a natural penchant for mind magic and compulsions, enchantments and charms. It was blamed on my heritage having at one time mixed with a race of serpent folk. I accepted that. It explained the small scales along my lower back and my forked tongue. I have to confess though, my biggest secret was that I was a natural psychic. I had it bad...empathy, telekinesis, pyrokinesis, telepathy, clairaudience, clairvoyance, precognition and psychometry. So here I am (a psychic with a touch of serpentine mesmerism blessed by the Goddess of Beauty, trained in the arts of seduction and espionage by the priestess of the Goddess of Lust, Vengeance and Trickery) sitting in a city under a zombie infestation plague, attacked by werewolves, looking for a missing husband all under the over-watching eye of a castle who's Lord poisons it townsfolk... I shook my head to clear it from these thoughts. I dropped the mental shields that kept my magic and innate abilities in place. I could feel my senses expanding as the magic expanded like a ripple in the water. It washed over Gertruda first and I could feel her living essence, her life force. I felt the townsfolk in the inn and the lone paladin keeping vigil in the courtyard. I felt her pull away a moment as if she felt my magic embracing her but then she settled back into her watch...and just on the outskirts of my ability, I could feel the mindless undead. The hunger they possessed and the gaping void of negative energy felt like small needles at the fringe of my power. I started my prayers to Callistria trusting my mind's eye senses to keep me informed of all that was going on around me. I meditated and prayed. I felt Mary come into the room and go to bed. I felt the undead approaching under the cover of the night. I felt the paladin praying to her God or Goddess. I blinked awake and out of my meditation. The undead were attempting to break the barricade into the town square. I could feel the paladin in combat. Somewhere there was a breach and they were beginning to enter. The townsfolk and inn would be in danger if the paladin fell. I reached out and felt the numbers of undead, and knew that the paladin by herself would not be able to withstand such numbers. I grabbed my whip and headed toward the door. The night air was cold and the fog had settled back into the streets. Vision was limited, but I could make out the paladin's torch in the center of town. I could hear her mace and the wet thumping sound it made as it contacted with rotten, dead flesh. I ran in her direction. It was a gruesome sight that I beheld when I reached her. A flash of holy energy burst from her as she pushed the undead back towards the breach. She slipped on some entrails and went to her knee, but was back to her feet. I called out as I approached letting her know I wasn't a mindless zombie and moved to flank with her. My whip sizzled with holy energy as the presence of the zombies brought the whip to life. I concentrated on my whip and flames begin to lick along the length of it. Fire and Holy energy are always good to use on undead. I braced myself and felt the second wave of undead break against the barricade. The paladin fought with everything she had. I lost count of the blows, I brought down on the zombies. The stench of burnt flesh soon mixed with smell of rotten flesh in a sickening sweet odor that made my stomach rumble. I didn't have to time to think if it was hunger or nausea. My arm was already tired when the second wave collapsed. I quickly looked around to see how the paladin faired. She was still on her feet but you could see the exhaustion on her face. I said a small prayer to Callistria and touched her shoulder sending healing warmth into her body and taking away some of her fatigue. She smiled at me, and I couldn't help myself but winked at her. Even under the conditions of life and death, my training kicked in and I flirted. I turned away to focus on the wave of undead that began to once more enter the square. I didn't have a lot of strength in my arms anymore, but my arms and whip weren't my strongest weapon. My weapon was my psychic ability and more directly my control over fire. Pyrokinesis. I let the heat rise around me. Small flickers of light as the element responded to my control began to flicker around me. I pulled the energy and shaped it into one massive ball of fire and let it loose. It moved with the speed of though and rolled into the middle of the onrushing zombie horde. I watched the zombies burst into flame. I used the flaming sphere to chase after the zombies. The ones who escaped the rolling ball of wildfire met the mace of the paladin or the lash of my whip. When I couldn't feel any undead with my mind's sensor, I let the ball of flame die. It shuddered and collapsed back in on itself. The whip I used once more becoming a whip of black and yellow leather. I curled my whip and was reattaching it to my belt when I heard the paladin speak, "Had you not arrived when you did, I doubt I could have held this last wave of zombies back. They've never breached the barricades before." I nodded. I carefully began to build my will and wall pulling my mind and energy back into itself. I locked it down brick by brick as I built the wall in my mind's eye. It felt good to use my power, but it was also draining. I needed a moment to recharge my inner battery. "I'm glad I could help." "I and my companions are called Lightbringers. We slay undead wherever we can find them. We'd heard Barovia was thick with the horrors." I looked around at the mass of bodies. "It sure seems like it." I heard myself and inwardly cringed. I was shutting her down and realized that it had taken more out of me than I expected holding that ball of flame. I turned on the charm. "You were amazing in combat." I mentally gauged if she had seen my face fully yet and realized she hadn't. I pulled on a pleasant smile and turned to give her my attention. I let my smile grow letting the smile hit my eyes and soften them a bit. I held my hand out keeping my elbow at my side in a studied movement that should I had decided to trust her, pulling her closer as I greeted her. It was a studied, learned behaviour that I had picked up from the temple of Silken Veils. Human mannerisms that build trust. A pleasant face that warms up when you see someone and the close handshake build trust and instant empathy. A cold face that suddenly warms up builds distrust as well as keeping them at arms length. You didn't learn secrets from people by keeping them at arms length. I knew that my charm was working when she blushed slightly at the compliment. "My form was a bit off." I thought a moment trying to figure out if she was trying to be modest or just stating an evaluation of her actual performance. She did lose her footing and if she had been alone, the town would have been in trouble. I decided that she was being a bit of both and my estimation of her went up a bit. She was a skilled warrior and was replaying in her head her moves and mistakes, learning so that she wouldn't make them again. She rested only a moment, cleaning her weapon and shield. She then moved and began to rebuild the barricade. I waited a moment and then moved forward to help her. At some point, the three Vistani from the inn had emerged and were reinforcing portions of the wall near the inn. A massive, muscular man exited from a building across the street and also began working on the makeshift fence. I watched as the strong muscles rippled in his arms, and along his back. He was about 6'0 tall, broad of shoulder and back, narrowing in a V-shape to a fit waist and thick muscular legs. He easily moved pieces of wood that it took two normal sized men to move. I worked my way towards him a bit. He had a thick patch of fur on his chest that peeked between the lacing of his shirt and a nice flat stomach. His pants were a bit tight and he filled them nicely. I felt the stirrings of lust in my loins. My cock was so hard, it rubbed my britches as I worked, nearly causing me to cream my pants. I worked lost in my fantasy trying to decide which would feel better, that huge mound of cock he had hidden in his britches in my ass, or my own hard cock buried deep in that sweet ass. I lusted after his body, and I knew my Goddess would approve. I clenched my ass cheeks feeling him already boring deep into my body and my own cock throbbed as I imagined his tight ass taking me inch by steady inch into him. I slowly worked my way over to him. He turned and I saw his face. This muscular, handsome man that had caught my attention was simple. He had a moon-face with the gentle smile and look of a five year old child. "Hello! My name is Parriwimple." His voice had a sing-song quality of an innocent. "If I rebuild the wall, Uncle Bildrath says I can have a sweet." He was excited about the prospect of having a sweet. I nodded. "I"ll help you. Maybe we can both have one!" He nodded and excitedly went back to work. I worked quietly alongside him cursing my luck. Best looking guy I'd encountered to date and he was off limits. I didn't have many rules in my code of conduct. I had met a necromancer once who told me he liked having sex with half rotten bodies, cause "they had more holes." I didn't know what he meant at the time, but after that I drew my own code of what I would or wouldn't do. I drew the line at dead bodies, animals and children. He qualified as "children". When the barricade was finished, he took my hand and led me to his uncles shop. Spare light gleamed from the gaps in the boarded-up windows of the building. A sign over the door creaked on its hinges proclaiming "Bildrath's Mercantile." Behind the counter was a dour older man. His facial expression looked like he had recently eaten something that disagreed with him and his face froze in that expression. "If you ain't buyin' it, don't touch it." He said crossly from behind the counter. "Sweet Uncle. Sweet!" Parriwimple exclaimed. His uncle frowned deeper but nodded, reaching behind the counter and bringing out a sweet for his nephew. Parriwimple popped it into his mouth and then looked at me. He spit it in his palm and offered it to me. "Sweet?" I shook my head and he greedily stuffed it back into his cheek. I watched him working it with his tongue and cheek and it looked just like a cock pressing into his cheek making it bulge a moment before withdrawing. I closed my eyes and said a small prayer to Callistria. I asked his uncle about some basic gear and supplies but they were horribly overpriced. "You want it badly enough, you'll pay. Besides with the zombie's keeping everyone here, I'm the only shop open." The prospect of making money made his eyes light up and brought a smile to his face which made him even uglier that when he looked sour and cross. I could push him and force him to sell to me at a normal price. I started to drop my shields and I felt it. Something he was hiding. He held secrets...lots of secrets. His face was as much a mask to put off questions as to discourage my being here. I wanted to know what secrets he held, but I looked at Parriwimple sucking on his sweet and shook my head. I had the gold, just didn't have any need to pay those prices yet. I left the store empty handed. I spied Ashlyn across the square and walked towards her. "That shop is a sin. The prices..." I shook my head. "So Lightbringers, huh? Where are your companions?" "My companions are Thendrick, a faithful servant of Pelor and Mathilda, a fighter of great renown." I hadn't heard of anyone or thing called Pelor, and I hadn't heard of Mathilda either, so must guessed them to be from another country or place. "Thendrick and Methilda wanted to check out the church to the north-west. The townsfolk believe that's where the zombies arise. Everyone told us to talk with Madam Eva first---she's some sort of wise woman who lives west of town, the same one who apparently knows of the sunsword. But the wouldn't listen, the arrogant clods. "They went to the church, confident they could handle whatever they found. That was three days ago. I haven't heard from them since, and I haven't been able to venture beyond this square with the zombie attacks. Someone has to stay and watch for the villagers." "What the sunsword?" I asked, picking out small details in her story. "The sunsword is my Quest! It's legendary! A mighty weapon against evil, especially undead. It is most potent against vampires. It fell out of histories long ago, but I've determined that was last seen and used in these lands. The townsfolk are adamant that if anyone would have knowledge of the swords location, it would be this Madam Eva." "I was told to talk to Madam Eva by someone in the inn." I couldn't remember his name. That was odd, I usually never lost details or secrets, but for whatever reason the name of the person who mentioned that I should seek out the woman escaped me. "Well, if you're here to destroy zombies, our aims likely coincide." She smiled at me. It was a genuine smile and I couldn't sense any ulterior motives in it. "Maybe you can help me find my companions, escape town and talk with Madam Eva." Before I could answer, a flock of crows flew over the square and around the buildings. They cawed and drowned out any noises. They flew in a circular motion twice around the square before altering their course to head towards the castle looming high above us. I watched them quietly thinking for a moment. I had a lot already on my plate, did I want to add this woman's quests to them?!? "I will see what I can do." She nodded content with that answer. I turned and went back to the inn, turning to go to the out house. I finished my business and moved to the horse trough. I pulled a bucket of water and washed good. Then entered the inn. I ordered a large mug of ale, as the cock crowed morning and the sun rose over the mountains casting the shadow of the castle across the land below.