Ox --->Tiger --->Rabbit --->Dragon --->Snake --->Horse Campaign Session #218

Shelby's dream of Elyra and a Green Shadow Dragon

 

 

 

Session 218- A Return to Barovia Part 68; Darkon 5

4/12/2026

• Rams have set watch and gone to sleep in their suite at 

  Riverview Rest Inn.  No encounters occur for the watch sitters, 

  but those who go to sleep have vivid dreams that begin in a 

  recurring dream situation (callback to Session #181), then morph 

  to reveal information and possible divine communications.

• Shelby finds herself in the Chapel of Castle Ravenloft presiding 

  over a marriage ceremony of tiny puppet/doll Strahd and 

  Patrina Velikovna.  Shelby is wearing her ceremonial Cleric of Tiamat 

  robes in the colors purple, white, red, and brown.  When Shelby 

  pronounces “You may kiss the bride”, Strahd lifts Patrina’s veil and 

  kisses her.  Dream shifts to a strange fertility ritual between tiny 

  puppet/doll Strahd and Patrina performing “consummation” while a 

  couple nearby do the same (Kasimir and Elyra).  Then there is a 

  flashback to Elyra (not pregnant) speaking adoringly to a dark, sinister 

  dragon shape in the mist.  Tiamat’s voice whispers in Shelby’s ear 

  “One of my dangerous daughters protects the elven girl.  Tread 

  carefully here, my loyal servant.”

• Tim has been asked to be a guest at Castle Ravenloft wedding.  

  When he arrives, he discovers that the ceremony is instead a double 

  funeral. He walks up to the coffins and opens the first one which 

  contains a dead Kasimir.  The second coffin bursts open… it’s Elyra 

  and she is giving birth to a dragon scaled baby.  She asks Tim to help 

  her deliver it, Tiamat guides his hands towards the infant….

• Tiamat shows two divergent paths, “Heed or falter; some 

  shadows must be met in courage, others in cunning.”

• Gugula also finds herself in the Chapel of Castle Ravenloft.  She is 

  shocked to find herself not in armor, but instead wearing a wedding 

  dress. She feels quite naked.  Then you take a deep breath to focus 

  and look down to realize you are wearing your armor beneath a 

  spectral wedding gown.  When the priest presiding over the ceremony 

  says “You may kiss the bride”, Gugula is horrified to realize the groom 

  is an ancient, undead Lich King.  He “winks” at her as SHE leans in to 

  kiss him! This isn’t even the wild part, you should see who is in the 

  front row of this wedding ceremony….  Strahd, Patrina, a monster in a 

  jar, a shadowy dragon or two, an Infinite mountain, Elise, the Abbot, 

  the Follower….

• Fecus is a guest at tiny puppet/doll Strahd and Patrina’s wedding.  

  When the priest says the part of the ceremony “Speak now or 

  forever hold your peace” Fecus wants to speak up, but cannot.  

  His throat feels blocked and  he feels his pants get warm.  Last time 

  Fecus had peed his pants in the dream and outside the dream in 

  his bed.  The dream transitions to the 

  fertility ritual taking place in a series of shallow, glowing pools in an 

  amber tinted Grotto.  Participants are tiny puppet/doll Strahd and a 

  tiny puppet/doll Patrina, their strings being pulled by different 

  shadowy figures. And Elyra and Kasimir, real and in the flesh, doing 

  what you do to make a child.  Now the dream transitions to a shrieking 

  and insane Elyra, grieving and birthing simultaneously….

• Victor dreams of his father berating him, his mother pitying him, and 

  his ex-wife’s horror of him (it wasn’t really horror, just her first time, he 

  kinda blew that out of proportion in his mind at first).  Then a kind and 

  powerful voice speaks to him excitedly about arcane and profound 

  truths….

• Ezmerelda dreams of the night she lost her leg, only this time it is a 

  shadowy green dragon biting it off, not a werewolf….  Then she thinks 

  she awakens covered in scales, but it is just dream bleedover…. 

  Right?

• After describing the old recurring dream, then transitioning to the new 

  dream sequence for each PC, they woke up and I had the players roll 

  Save Vs. Magic.  Failure prevented taking any action within the 

  dream.

• Tim failed his Save.

• Shelby failed her Save.

• Gugula succeeded her Save.  She looks to Elise, the most 

  sympathetic seeming guest at this horrific wedding, and says 

  “What should I do?”  Elise smiles and says “Follow your heart!”  

  Gugula looks back to Lich Groom and swings hard to punch him in 

  the jaw.  He laughs and disappears, reappearing on the balcony 

  above. He tells her he will see her at the honeymoon.

• Fecus failed his Save.

• Although not able to take action in their dreams Tim, Fecus, and 

  Shelby had some opinions on what the messages were in the 

  dreams (Tiamat speaking and the symbolism) and Fecus and Shelby 

  were specifically concerned the dreams were an attack or invasion of 

  some kind.

• On to breakfast with Delimira, she complains of poor sleep, too.

• Rams walk over to Cascana Sanitarium with Delimira and find her 

  niece, Elyra, having her own breakfast in the garden.

• The reunion is brief, as Nurse Virell approaches Team Rams and tells 

  them that Elyra is unaware her baby’s daddy has been murdered.  

  She asks them to take Delimira away.  Sensing something weird 

  about the situation, Shelby has a whole inner dialogue going with 

  herself wondering if she should use Command on Elyra to induce 

  “miscarriage”. Tim ends up coaxing Delimira away and Team Rams 

  leave Cascana Sanitarium.

• Elise accompanies Delimira back to Riverview Rest Inn while the rest 

  of Team Rams make an all day visit to Library Pharmacologae, where 

  they purchase new spells, scrolls, and potions.  Their host while 

  visiting is Librarian Apprentice Rennas Quillhand.  Fecus is able to sell 

  some gems and jewelry (10,000 GP value) while the magic users 

  study and copy spells.

Ox --->Tiger --->Rabbit --->Dragon --->Snake --->Horse Campaign Session #217

Shrine of Ezra at Nevuchar Springs

 

 

 

Session 217- A Return to Barovia Part 67; Darkon 4

4/5/2026

• As the re-united Team Rams decides which lead to pursue next, 

  a Nevuchar Springs town guardsman named Sythryn Silverbranch 

  arrives at the Shrine of Ezra to bring Gugula, Shelby, and 

  Ezmerelda in for questioning regarding the death of Kasimir Velikov.

• Kasimir’s body was found near a spot where the women were seen; 

  the spot where they spoke to Elyra.

• All of Team Rams decide to play this out, but insist on accompanying 

  Sythrin and the women to the interview site which is in the 

  containment wing of Cascana Sanitarium.  Their new friend Holt goes 

  along as well.

• Elyra is sitting in the gardens of Cascana as Team Rams and Sythrin 

  walk on to the grounds.  She gives a wave to Gugula, Shelby, and 

  Ezmerelda as they walk past.

• The interview room is like a sterile board room or meeting room.  

  Sythrin sits down and begins to ask questions and record the various 

  answers.  Holt stresses the importance of the word of Toret Lirael as 

  an alibi for where the women were all night.  And it seems Gugula 

  might have been a witness to the murder party when she observed 

  the boat rowing upstream from the ocean into the Vuchar River while 

  she sat watch.

• Sythrin seems satisfied with how these answers exonerate the three 

  women.  

  He asks where the party will stay while in town, in case he has any 

  follow up questions.

• Team Rams ask where they should seek accommodations and 

  Riverview Rest Inn is the obvious choice.  They let Sythrin know he 

  can contact them there and then they leave Cascana Sanitarium. 

• They make their way to Riverview Rest Inn where they are welcomed 

  by the proprietress, Phinara Vaelith.  She serves up drinks and dinner 

  as Team Rams discuss the situation.  They arrange for a suite of 

  rooms, since the party is large at this point.  

• Tim notices an anxious elven woman drinking alone, but watching 

  Team Rams.  He invites her over to join their table and learns she is 

  Delimira Starfeather from the Vale of Tears and she is searching for 

  her missing niece, Elyra.

• Tim tells her that some members of his team just met Elyra over in 

  Cascana Sanitarium’s gardens.  He tells her Team Rams can help 

  her look into it in the morning if she would like the help.

Ox --->Tiger --->Rabbit --->Dragon --->Snake --->Horse Campaign Session #216

 

Who will be Darkon's next Darklord?

 

 

Session 216- A Return to Barovia Part 66; Darkon 3

3/29/2026

• The 2 canoes on the Vuchar River, pursued by Clangor Asylum 

  Patrols, raft together before slipping into a formidable bank of 

  the Shroud.

• Holt prays to Ezra, empowering his Shield of Ezra protective aura 

  over the 2 canoes and crews.

• Switching to the 3 women in Nevuchar Springs, they choose to use 

  the Scrying power of Mother Luba’s Tarokka deck to get a rough idea 

  that the men are traveling by small boats down the Vuchar River that 

  passes by Nevuchar Springs before emptying into the Nocturnal Sea.  

  They decide to go down to the beach and wait to see if they arrive in 

  the next day or so.

• Down on the beach, the 3 find the Shrine of Ezra in an old lighthouse.  

  They meet Toret Lirael Moonshade and she invites them in for tea.  

  She tells them she’s waiting for her friend to arrive from upriver.

• Lirael allows Gugula, Shelby, and Ezmerelda to spend the night in the 

  shrine/tower.  Gugula stays up and sits watch.  She only observes a 

  small craft rowing from the sea into the mouth of the bay and up river.

• Tim, Fecus, and Victor take turns sitting watch on the boat ride down 

  river.  Although the Mist is thick and heavy, nothing emerges from it to 

  deter the canoes on their trip down the river.  The boats arrive at the 

  beach by the Shrine of Ezra and Team Rams are reunited.  They 

  learn a bit about the factions from Holt and Lirael.  Suspicions of 

  Patrina and Strahd are strengthened by info Lirael and Holt share.

• Toret Lirael is also aware that 1 of the party has the potential to 

  become Darkon’s next Darklord.

Ox --->Tiger --->Rabbit --->Dragon --->Snake --->Horse Campaign Session #215

 

Who's child is Elyra carrying?

 

 

 

Session 215- A Return to Barovia Part 65; Darkon 2

3/22/2026

• Ezmerelda finds the letter and Tarokka deck from Mother Luba.

• The team in Clangor Asylum decide to escape via sewer tunnels.  

  As they are working through the tunnels, the Abbot speculates 

  that Patrina and Strahd had trapped him at the Asylum.  After 

  travelling in the sewer for a bit they encounter 3 Giant Frogs…

• Back to the trio of Gugula, Shelby, and Ezmerelda; the Blinsky toys 

  in Gugula’s and Shelby’s packs start gesturing to someone 

  following them towards the town center/market area of 

  Nevuchar Springs.  It’s a visibly pregnant Elf woman who followed 

  them from Cascana Sanitarium.  She said she had hoped to chat 

  with them, but she had been in treatment when they woke up.  

  She is curious and chatty and vapid.  Gugula is distrustful.  They 

  learn she is a pregnancy surrogate for a Dusk Elf woman who 

  needs help with that sort of thing.  They put a few dots together 

  and suspect that Elyra, the pregnant Elf, might be the surrogate to 

  whatever Patrina and Strahd are trying to create.  Freaky.

• Back in the sewer with the Tim and Fecus party.  Tim casts 

  Speak with Animals on the Giant Frogs, the Frogs ask for food.  

  The team unloads a bunch of dried fish, lizard steaks, old dead 

  squirrels, and rations to bribe the Frogs to allow them to pass 

  without interference.  They follow the sewer tunnel to its outlet near 

  the River Watch Tower.  The town of Maykle and Clangor Asylum 

  lie to the south.  A road leading out of town to the east parallels the 

  Vuchar River.  The team decide to search for the female team 

  members they’ve been separated from after the Transport out of 

  Bluetspur in Maykle.  Their first stop is Serenity Inn, where the only 

  customer is a female doctor that recognizes the Abbot.  Tim and 

  Fecus ask if she has seen or heard of the missing Team Rams 

  women.  She has not seen them.  She gives them her business card 

  “Dr. Selene Veyrisse, Surgeon and Anatomist”.  They leave 

  Serenity Inn and make their way towards the docks in the center 

  of town.  Their Blinsky dolls in Tim and Fecus’s backpacks point at a 

  young man following them.  Holt has also escaped Clangor Asylum 

  and followed Team Rams to tell them the asylum siren will go off 

  soon and search teams will begin looking for the escaped patients.  

  He knows boats are stored back by the River Watch Towers and 

  tells them it's the fastest way out of town.  The sirens go off, so they 

  follow Holt to the canoes and start paddling downstream in the 

  Vuchar River.

• Back to the women of Team Rams.  They finish their chat with 

  Elyra as she tires and needs to go back to her room in 

  Cascana Sanitarium.  Gugula strongly resists the impulse to defeat 

  whatever Elyra is host to as Surrogate.  They decide to investigate 

  the Market Center of Nevuchar Springs.