Curse of Strahd dnd campaign

Quinn drops the darkness "he can see through darkness so..." she drops back a little, seeking cover for now, trying to hide behind a tree or a rock so she doesn't get shot again. "be careful with him. we will start hitting him again in a minute. he should be damaged a bit by that spell."
 
Lucan and Ireena head toward the image of Erlen as he fires two more arrows at the real Erlen. Lucan and Ireena both hit him with hard attacks. Ezmerelda tosses a vital at him causing a explosion behind the image of Erlen. He shoots two more arrows at Erlen knocking him unconscious. The image of Erlen smiles as he puts his bow away and pulls out two swords.
 
Quinn mutters "well that's not good" then shouts "es, Ireena, keep him off Lucan. Lucan make sure Erlan is alive" she muttes a few words and fires two eldritch blasts at Image Erlan, trying to hurl him back a bit "marius whatever you have throw it at this guy!" she calls out after launching her bolts "unrelenting pressure everyone"
 
The image of Erlen gets pushed back ten feet before Marius shoots a huge bolt of lightning at him. The image moves out of the way before rushing at Ezmerelda and slashing at her four times. Ireena and Ezmerelda attack him with their swords. Lucan runs over to erlen and starts to heal him. "Hes alright just focus on killing the image!"
 
Quinn fires off another eldritch blast, part of her wishing she had a more varied repetoire but the things are so damn effective. she tries using them to push the image-erlan off Es since she's taken a few hits. she wracks her brain, thinking if there's some way to slow the thing down but she comes up empty for now.
 
The image of Erlen gets pushed back but heads right back for Ezmerelda, knocking her unconscious after three hits then turning his sights on Ireena. With Erlen back up Lucan runs back in and swings his Warhammer at the image. He misses almost losing control of his Warhammer but maintains his grip on it. Erlen fires two more arrows at the image, both of them hit sinking into his chest and he starts to drip blood profusely. Lucan looks down at Ezmerelda and starts muttering something. She stands up slowly and backs a few steps away.
 
Quinn moves, trying to draw the attention of the Erlan Image. she keeps her already injured side away from him, not wanting to make it any worse. she launces a wild strike with her eldritch blast as she runs, more trying to just draw attention so lucan and es can close in on him or marius can hit him with a spell.
 
The image of erlen looks over at Quinn as he sees her blast. His swords turn into a bow and he pulls two large arrows from his quiver. He shoots both of them at Quinn, only one hitting her piercing her leg. Her leg grows numb and starts bleeding profusely. Lucan and ireena continue hitting him hard causing more blood to pour from the image. He seems to slow down a bit as he keeps getting hit. Marius attempts another spell on the image and for a moment it looks like he's lost, his sight becomes blurred and he looks around trying to find his next target but can't seem to find anyone.
 
Quinn drops, her leg is useless and she cant run any more. she tosses another eldrtitch bolt at the image, then starts crawiling, trying with her good leg and her arms to pull herself to cover somewhere, anywhere, hoping her melee based companions can put him down or at least discourage him from further attacks in her direction "stupid quinn. real fucking stupid" she mutters as she tries to get to safety.
 
Quinn feels Marius' hands as he pulls her up and back for cover behind a nearby tree. The image still seems distracted by whatever he is seeing. His bow turns back into his two swords as he swings wildly. Ireena attacks him as he's flailing around. Lucan swings his Warhammer and finally the image shatters. He turns his attention to Quinn and rushes over to her, trying to be gentle about pulling the large arrow out of her leg. Unfortunately its a large arrow and there's no being gentle about it, the pain is excruciating. He hurries to bandage it up and starts to heal it immediately. "He was focused on us.. Why did you do that Quinn? I appreciate you trying to distract him, but that was wreckless.. We agreed you were supposed to get hit less, remember?" Ireena walks over and as she does the raven you all saw before flies down and turns into a woman. The woman is tall and angular with ebony skin that is almost completely black. She looks more like a moving shadow than an actual person. She has white eyes with no irises or pupils, and a mane of ravens feathers where he hair should be.

"Oh my, you actually managed to kill him. You passed the trial, congratulations. Congratulations on being the first ever to actually pass the trial too." She walks over to Lucan as he focuses on Quinn's leg. She grabs the holy symbol from around his neck and it glows brightly. Everyone looks away as it feels as blinding as the sun, but after a moment it fades. "There you go, that should help a bit. We'll done, all of you. Though you have much more work ahead of you. I'm sure you know all about that though if you knew where to find this place." She looks over all of you, Quin, Ezmerelda, and Erlen all bloody. "My, he really did a number on some of you, didn't he?"
 
Quinn screams as the arrow pushes through her leg and nearly faints. she clutches at Lucan, and doesn't really have a retort as she's in an enormous amount of pain. she bites her lip and winces, feeling the healing magic literally knit her flesh back together. its disconcerting and she absolutely does not look down to watch it. instead she looks up at the shadowy woman "i.... fuck" she grits her teeth and feels the tears coming at the corner of her eyes from the pain. "i ... assume you're the fane?" she winces and watches lucan bandage her still injured leg, though she feels a good bit better after the woman did whatever, and Lucan's spell. she looks at the woman "is there... is there another step? like. we did the fight i assume there's something else we have to do to sever the connection"
 
She smiles warmly and shakes her head. "No dear, all you had to do was bring the symbol of Ravenkind here and defeat the twisted future version of one of you. I am the seeker. The fane is that large obelisk pillar over there. I'm afraid your other trials won't be the same though, prepare yourselves for what's to come. I hope you did this land of Strahd, he has tainted everything here.." Lucan finishes up bandaging Quinn, "Sorry.. I did what I could but stay off of your leg for a while." Ireena sits down and hugs Quinn lightly. "That was pretty wreckless Quinn.. Those arrows could have killed you.."
 
Quinn nods to the woman "the seeker? what is the seeker? will we be seing you at all of the fanes?" she wraps an arm around Ireena "i know, angel but Lucan needed a minute to keep erlan from dying and i figured i could take the hit. DO i regret it? absolutely. But i mean, also a little not." she shifts a bit not saying she couldnt take the risk of drawing strahd's wrath if Ireena got hurt. "it was a calculated risk though" she winces and tries to stand "im... gonna need some help i think"
 
Lucan gently helps Quinn up and puts an arm around her to keep her steady. The Seeker shakes her head, "no, I won't be at any of the other fanes. Those were ruled over by others. The Seeker is just what I'm called, I can see the future so over the centuries those who know me came to call me that." Ireena looks over at Quinn with sad, worried eyes. "Still.. I could have held him off while Lucan did that. I'm on the front lines, you're supposed to stay back and cover. Instead you made yourself an active target and got shot by arrows that clearly did more than normal arrows.. You have to let Lucan and I do our jobs Quinn."
 
Quinn groans and looks over at the spirit "so uh. we gonna win?" she's deflecting, as always, with humor. she gingerly puts some weight on her leg but then stops, regretting it. she lets Ireena support her and leans over to kiss her temple "i will be more careful next time. since ill be walking with a cane like an old man" she runs her hand along Ireena's back "i'm.... gonna be pretty worthless for setting up camp. or getting in and out of the carriage. at least for a few days. hopefully not that long. can... can you help me? i know you are probably right to be mad but... i need some help. im sorry"
 
The Seeker smiles and shrugs. "There are still many paths that can be taken between now and your battle. Some lead to Victor, some lead to loss." Ireena's emotions go from sad to visibly upset when Quinn deflects from her. "Yeah I'll help you, you pain in the ass.. Dont worry about setting up camp, we can handle it. I'm sure Erlen and Ezmerelda will need help too. We will make it work, just take it easy." Ireena sighs but a small smile appears on her face feeling Quinn's hand on her back. "You're lucky you're cute.."
 
Quinn nods "well. i have sort of coasted by on it." she leans on Ireena as they move over towards where theyre going to camp. she sits on a stump, rubbing her leg and sure its going to get stiff, but also it hurts to do it. "fuck"

*good job quinn. getting yourself killed because you'd miss your lovers doesnt keep all three of you together you know*

* i know shut up*

Quinn pulls Ireena in for a hug, then sighs "let me know when everything's ready and ill try to hobble over." she shifts "i can at least get the fire lit for dinner. thats a word and a gesture."
 
Ireena shakes her head and stretches. "Stay put. Seriously Quinn. The more you move the more damage you'll do to yourself." She leans down to hug Quinn a little tighter than she means to, trembling slightly. She heads off and starts a small fire closeby. Lucan, Ireena, and Marius set up camp and get dinner started. Lucan wraps up Ezmerelda and Erlen before coming back to Quinn. He leans down taking a look at her leg before healing her again. "I'll do what I can to keep healing it, but I think youre going to have another scar. I dont know what kind of arrow that was, but that was something else.." Hes quiet for a moment as he stares off into the fire. "No more distractions like that, please.. Ireena is stronger than you know." Ireena walks over holding two bowls of stew and some bread she took from the vistani camp. She hands one to Quinn before sitting on the ground leaning against the stump away from Quinn's leg.
 
Quinn sighs "i know she is lucan but if you tell her this i'll kill you. if she gets hurt before we kill those fanes we might be fucked. fucked.I can respect her as a warrior and still understand that fighting strahd after fighting that thing is bad. its bad." she covers her face in her hands "im..I know she wont think about it and i cant ask her to not be around because this affects her too, but i can take small actions to make sure she isn't hurt that bad until we're in place to take him on." she winces "and i... the scar is gonna be what it is. its not in the face at least. thank god for small favors" she gets quiet as she sees Ireena heading over. she smiles at Ireena, glad to be fed and aken care of a little. she takes a bite of the dinner, glad for some warm food.

"thanks angel. i...thanks" she sighs "i will try to be more careful. for both of you" she swallows "i need you. I need you both to an extent that its honestly terrifying"
 
Lucan nods at Quinn but doesn't say anything for a moment as Ireena approaches. "We will all get through this together, but being foolish isn't the way to do it. Even if ifs a good reason. Keep an eye on her Ireena, I need to eat and check on the others." He leans down kissing Quinn on the cheek before heading off to get some stew and head over to Erlen. Ireena stares at her stew for a long moment and sighs. "You realize we need you too right.. Regardless of how terrifying it is you have to realize we need you just as badly. What would have happened if he hit you again Quinn? Would distracting him from trying to hit me be worth your life? If you die here your soul is stuck here Quinn." Her voice breaks and she sets down her soup. She rests her head on her knees, "If you die none of this was worth it.. I want to see the sun, I want to go exploring, I want more adventures. But I want all of that with you there too dammit! He didn't touch me that whole fight, I could have taken a hit and been fine until Lucan got back. I'm not weak.. If this was because of what Strahd told you, ignore him. I wouldn't let him hurt you." Her voice trails off, tears flow down her cheeks as she keeps her head on her knees looking at the ground.
 
sighing quinn shovels another mouthful of food into her mouth so she can carefully consider her answer to be both factually true, since Ireena could pick up on her lies, and still reassuring and what Ireena needed to hear "it is. it is because of what he said. I don't think you're weak at all. if i thought that, I wouldn't be falling for you" she eats another bite of her stew "we all are going to face death on this journey, ireena. all of us. Lucan, Erlan. Marius, Es. You. All of us. but of the 6 of us there's one of us who has to absolutely be whole for a bit. We can't do these things without you. We can't. look how hard the thing was to take down. Without you we wouldn't have done it. So we can't and honestly... I don't want... to ask you to sit back. I want you here with us, fighting. I want you doing your part. but for the next fight or two part of your part... part of keeping us all safe... is keeping you largely uninjured. So ironically while we need you to be at the front, swinging that sword and going all out, when we can keep someone from turning their attention towards you we have to. And that's not an indictment of you. and its not a statement that any one of us is stronger. it's about the mission."

Quinn sets her bowl down, and runs her fingers through Ireena's hair "I trust, that if i had died you would have freed me. that the rest of you would go on to win. I'm not a hero Ireena. I'm a thief and a beggar with stolen powers and a stolen life who has basically managed to luck herself into where she is right now. I'm not looking to die in some great heroic sacrifice but here we are.After we fight the fanes, i won't pull danger from you. Neither will anyone else here. I hate that this is coming between us. I hate that we're in this spot." she turns, painfully "i know you're as capable as any of the rest of us and its unfair that Strahd has put this on you, and on us. if we knew for sure he wasn't really watching.. it would be different. maybe there's some way to hide you from him. we should talk to lucan about that"
 
Ireena rests her head lightly against Quinn. "So pretty much everyone is going to put themselves in extra danger to keep me safe. Just because Strahd says to make sure I don't get hurt. That doesn't make me feel great.. I know we are all going to face death, ive seen death all my life living here. I can accept death, it doesn't bother me much anymore. I'm just not ready for your death, especially if its because you were trying to distract someone from attacking me. You realize I couldn't live with myself if that happened right? There's going to come a time where you can't all keep me safe. I'm not asking everyone to do shit that might get them hurt for the sake of keeping me safe."

Ireena closes her eyes as Quinn runs her fingers through her hair. "You call yourself mighty Quinn but don't want to die a hero? I think that sounds a bit silly really. You might have grown up a bigger and stealer, but youre not now. Now you're an adventurer surrounded by people who love and appreciate you. Even if your powers are stolen, they are your powers now and they let you do things that most people only wish they could do. During the other two fights with these fanes, if there even is more fighting.. Keep yourself safe, you're already hurt Quinn, if we get to Strahd and you're still injured we are fucked. I can handle a few attacks, you know I'm not weak. You're treating me like I'm some delicate flower because Strahd is an asshole and is holding my health and safety over you. If you want to keep me safe because that's what you want, its one thing. But keeping me safe because he wants me safe.. Its not what I want. I want to be an equal part of this. I doubt Strahd is always watching, but I guess who knows. Maybe you're right and Lucan will know something."
 
Quinn sighs and keeps her fingers running through Ireena's hair "much as i'd like to be super romantic and say its all about you, its not" she laughs and leans down and kisses the top of Ireena's head. "trust me in that i won't be drawing any fire, seated on my stool for the next fane. hopefully its kind enough to stay in the line of fire" she tangles her fingers in Ireena's hair "i know you'd be mad at me, and sad, if i died. I would be mad at you an sad if you died" she runs her nails along her scalp "you wouldn't be the first lover i've lost in the field. THe guy i was with before died when our boat sank. It was different though. That was more... having a good time on the road. You and I have the potential to be so much more. I feel it. This could be a thing for the ages you know?"
 
Ireena shivers feeling Quinn's nails on her scalp. She leans her head back and looks up at Quinn. "I know what you mean, I dont want this to just be a good time on the road. I know its more than that. And just so you know, I don't plan on dying any time soon. And I dont plan on letting you die, even if I have to drag your ass away from the battle. Which will be easier now that your leg is messed up." She cracks her first smile since the battle with Erlen's image. "I know I wouldn't be the first lover you lost in the field if anything did happen. But I know it'd effect you enough that you'd get sloppy in battle because too many emotions would be going through you. Just know, if I get hit, i can handle it. Obviously not a ton of hits, but I can survive more than most folks around here. Maybe not you lot of course, but still.. Rude of you to say its not all about me, it clearly is always all about me."
 
Quinn nods "my mistake, princess" she laughs and leans down to kiss Ireena softly. her arm wraps around her a bit "its actually harder to drag me because im dead weight. you should ask lucan for help" she laughs "also for the next couple days uh... ahem. you two feel free to do whatever i need to rest and just not move around too much."
 
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