CHAPTER 3:

ON THE ROAD AGAIN


Lorrigan had donned studded leather enchanted armour and shield, leather helmet, boots and gauntlets for the task of riding to Barovia Village. A thick hooded cloak of warmth, invisibility and concealment was also worn for the journey. Two quivers of twenty each enchanted arrows and one quiver of thirty finely crafted exquisite standard arrows. And his trusty collection of blades.

The traveling troupe had gifted the party seven horses and seven ponies and a crazed old stallion that they couldn't control no matter how hard they tried. Lorrigan had taken the oldest crazed horse and according to the travelers by far the most cantankerous beast that had ever lived. Lorrigan had mounted the beast with ease much to the surprise of the travelers.

He rode westward along the main path through the forest. Despite it being midday the sun was obscured and out of sight. He held a hooded traveling lantern aloft as the old stallion found its way through the undergrowth and trees.

The surroundings hereabouts were dismal and depressing. Everything seemed to be dying or rotting. The further west he traveled the more desperate the landscape seemed as it hung on for dear life but couldn't resist the very death of nature in this blighted shadowy land of dark mists and infernal secrets.

Local hunters trying to bring down hunted prey. Sickly wildlife too hungry and desperate to find more pleasant and desirable lands in which to frolic ran from sickly hunters to weak to pull a longbow. Bellies would remain empty in their houses tonight if someone didn't help. What kind of lord let his people go so hungry they could barely hunt for their dinner?

The warrior worried that he might face hostility from locals once the village was found. Such opulence on display in such a pitiful setting as Barovia would only lead to resentment and envious hatred. The commander thought about bringing down an animal with his bow for the hunters but knew they would resent his efforts.

He directed the horse to carry on at a brisk but not fast pace. There were travelers on the road. On foot, In Wagons and Riding horses. An assortment of underfed and skinny animals accompanied the local travelers. Dogs, hunting hounds, goats, sheep, pigs, cows, horses, ponies, mules, donkeys, cats, and caged birds. All had in common that they were sickly and pitiful beasts and would probably face becoming their owners' next meal should the pantry become empty.

Lorrigan acknowledged greetings when they were offered but he remained distant unless he needed directions and the path became unclear. The sense of overwhelming dread, fear, and horror that even he felt in this ghastly place was something he had never experienced.

The sense of complete and total helplessness on the faces of the people he passed and the jittery panicked animals too desperate to even think of escape should they be attacked.

The darkness of the daytime engulfed everything and took on a supernatural life of its own the further west he traveled. Noises from the woods became a reason to fight off the panic of this ill-thought-out journey. Howls in the distance of numerous packs of wild hungry creatures echoed throughout the valley bringing worried cries from villagers and their animals as they hurried to their destination.

An hour of travel through the dense forest brought him into greatly untended farms and a mile-wide clearing of numerous small hamlets, farms, and estates with muddy trails leading off the main path into numerous locations in the area. He was surprised at the lack of any signs of life outside the settlements as he passed.

Some places looked abandoned. Some were dilapidated ruins that had long ago fallen to the elements at play in this strange land. It could have been a scene from anywhere in the Realms but the sense of an entire valley wrapped up in a gods-issued curse was everywhere to be seen. It played on all the senses with sounds, visions, odors, tastes and even touch. All were mutated and twisted in greatly exaggerated extremes. Whatever curse bound this place it was truly evil incarnate. An otherworldly infernal distortion of the natural laws that should exist here.

Terribly emaciated hounds barked into the darkness of the daytime. Barovia he guessed was not on many people's list of places to visit. But some had no choice but to answer its summons. A call for fresh meat for the Barovian bloody meat grinder that carved a bloody swathe through locals and visitors alike.

Numerous roadside inns and taverns lay barren of paying guests their stables empty and deserted. Occasionally desperate refugees could be seen hiding in boarded up buildings as they took a weary peak into the darkness with raised lanterns and torches to spy the disturbance that could potentially end their miserable existence.

Animals stood hopelessly dying in abandoned farms and fields. They would be the next meal of any passing predator lucky enough to chew on their meatless bones.

He lost his concentration and time idled by with no thought of desperation as the miles of endless abandoned farmland passed by and fell back into the distance. It must have thrived once this devilishly cursed murky murderous mire. It was clear these lands had the potential to host bounteous riches flourishing with all manner of gods-created life and generous resources. What had happened to curse this place so completely?

Lorrigan never strayed from the unlit main road as it cut its way through farms and fields. He hoped he would find the village before the true darkness fell upon the land. The travelers grew in number in this wide farmland clearing. Most rushed to their destinations. Eager to find sanctuary behind walls of stone and wood. Where armed guards patrolled the streets and protected the people. Hopefully, they were in better condition than everyone else he had seen so far.

A brief respite from above saw thin slivers of light cast their rays through the thick overcast sky of black rain clouds, In the distance he thought he could make out a large settlement. Bigger than any he had seen thus far.

Travelers hurried through the darkness to reach the place in the distance.

Barovia village awaited its people's return silently. There was little more activity in the settlement than there had been on the road. It was a place lost in time and space. A nowhere village of helpless and hopeless people clinging to survival. A last sanctuary from the many evils out there in the wilderness. It felt like a desperate and forlorn place. A home to many but here they were prey for the predators of this land.

He had reached his destination.

The Curse of Strahd begins.