Episode 1

This is Episode 1 of Dice, Camera, Action.

The Party
(Anna) Evelyn - Human Paladin of Lathander

(Holly) Strix - Tiefling Sorcerer

(ProJared) Diath - Human Rogue

(Nathan) Paultin - Human Bard

The characters are 3rd level and they've been adventuring together for a while.

The Beginning
It all begins with our heroes cooking wieners over a campfire. We learn a bit about each character: After a bit of chatter, a roiling mist washes over the camp and the group is transported to Barovia, a domain of dread in the Shadowfell. Their campfire becomes a bonfire. A dark figure appears in the flames and glowers at Evelyn. Strix soils herself.
 * Strix: She wears crusty clothing that she always picks at and she has... a cranium rat named Mr. Stinky. She scratches its brain. Apparently Stinky is a little slow.
 * Diath: He's a tomb-raiding type who is cleaning his trusty lockpicks. He has a mysterious ring of keys that he carefully protects.
 * Evelyn: She wears white and gold armor. Her face is described as "cherubic." She has a pet mouse, named Juniper.
 * Paultin: He plays the lute and the bagpipe. He can be a little mouthy. He has a rival who may or may not be a voice in his head.

The group decides to do some exploring. They come upon a rusty gate and pass through it. The gate swings shut behind them.

The adventurers come upon the corpse of a commoner who has been clawed to death. He is clutching an envelope. In it is a letter from Kolyan Indirovich, the Burgomaster of Barovia. The group learns that there is a vampire causing problems in this realm.

Evelyn casts Detect Evil and she realizes the entire realm is tainted with evil. She drops to one knee, overwhelmed. Strix splashes her with filthy puddle water to snap her out of it.

There is some discussion of Evelyn's god, Lathander, and whether his connection to Evelyn is severed (she still has her spells and powers). Strix thinks Lathander is busy picking his butt.

The Village of Barovia
The group follows wagon tracks and comes upon a village. They spot the Blood of the Vine Inn and they hear sobbing coming from a boarded up building.

Evelyn shimmies through the window of the building to look for the crying woman. She draws her axe, Lightfall. It is double bladed and has the symbol of Lathander on it.

Evelyn finds the crying lady, who appears to be holding a dead baby. Evelyn looks closer and sees it is actually a doll missing an eye. She says "the devil Strahd" took her baby, Gertruda. Evelyn promises to get the baby back.

The woman explains that Strahd hunts the people of Barovia, aided by wolves and bats.

She gives Evelyn the doll. It has a tag on it that says: "Is no fun, is no Blinsky." No idea what that means!

They go into the Blood of the Vine tavern. Paultin fires up his bard ability to perform in exchange for free food and drinks. His bagpipe-playing impresses 3 women wearing colorful clothes. It turns out that they are owners of the bar and are vistani.

One woman says she didn't think Paultin's performance was that great, so Paultin busts out his magic eyes of charming to change her mind.

Diath meets a fellow named Ismark who is related to Ireena, daughter of the Burgomaster. He wants the group to meet her.

Paultin ends up dancing with one of the vistani. The group gets weirded out by shadows on the wall moving strangely and they decide to leave. Strix uses magic to leave a foul odor in her wake.

They go with Ismark to his dilapidated "mansion." There, they meet Ireena, who is wearing armor and a red tunic. She has two puncture marks on her neck.

That's where the session ends.