Curse of Strahd dnd campaign

[SubPhil91]

Quinn hears a voice that clearly isn't Ireena's respond to her. One of the skulls turns toward Quinn, "Shhhh, shes fine. She's just considering an offer, its a choice she has to make herself, we arent forcing her to take it by any means, just throwing out an offer. Its just a tough choice for her, she is taking her time thinking about it. She'll be fine, you have no need to worry!" Quinn can see Ireena shift as Ireena hears her voice but then focuses back on the voices.

 

[siobhancan99]

Quinn projects a thought into Ireena's mind, of Ireena chastising her for taking risks to to help the others and how they'd all feel if Quinn sacrificed herself for them, then she kisses her temple and leaves her be to make her choice.

 

[SubPhil91]

Ireena shakes her head and finally struggles out of the chat with the skulls. "Pushy little assholes.." She looks over at Quinn and smiles before hugging her tightly. "Thank you. They were trying to get me to keep talking until I agreed to take their gift. I wouldn't say yes so they kept trying so say there was no downside and it would only help. Which didn't sound right.. Did we beat the fane then? Or do we still have to do that.."

 

[siobhancan99]

Quinn hmmms "So bad news i took a gift earlier which is how i know its bad. its apparently not super bad though and the faster i use it the faster i'llb e rid of the negative energy. the fane, strahd never claimed it. he took a dark gift instead. so we can rest here and then go on to defeat him. hopefully. fight him at the very least"

 

[SubPhil91]

"So its probably a good thing I didn't take it then.. Well, im glad you snapped me out of it then. Do you think the carriage and wagon will be safe if we plan on staying here for a while? Thats the only downside. I'm glad he didn't get this one, even if that means this trip was a bit of a bust. And now you have negative energy in you and your eyes a re a bit different, though thats not really a bad thing I guess. I wish this place was warmer so it'd be nicer to sleep, even for me this is cold." She leans into Quinn and just tries to stay warm for a few moments. Even with the heat Ireena gives off it still feels cold here in the temple.

 

[siobhancan99]

Quinn hmmms "you know, we havent been here very long. we can probably make it down the mountain before nightfall and camp somewhere warmer. I worry about the horses in this weather" she looks around "everyone, why don't we saddle up and head down to where its at least bearable? I'd hate our faithful four legged friends to die of cold on our account"

 

[SubPhil91]

Everyone nods and you all head up and out of the temple. You all make it back to the gate and Lucan dispels the green flames so you can all walk through. Everyone gets ready to leave and make your way back down the mountain. Before nightfall you all make it back to the fane and you set up camp. Lucan and Marius set up tents while ireena starts making some stew and Erlen heads out to get some fresh water. Ezmerelda keeps an eye out for anything that might cause you all some trouble but sees nothing. She keeps an eye over everything just in case.

 

[siobhancan99]

Quinn sits by the fire, troubled by the fact she took the gift. She sort of knew at the time it was probably a bad idea but she did it for Ireena and Lucan. She curls her cloak around herself a little and soaks in the fire, watching Ireena cook but mostly internally stewing herself and wondering if she's made some sort of horrible choice that is going to screw them all at some point. The huntress had been pretty sanguine about it, so that was a plus. Still...

 

[SubPhil91]

Ireena looks over at Quinn while she cooks and finally finishes. She pours Quinn a bowl and walks it over to her. She wraps an arm around Quinn and pulls her close as she sits down. "I know its usually you that asks this but.. Copper for your thoughts? I can see you struggling with something, im trying to not be rude and just read your thoughts though." She looks over at Quinn and kisses her cheek. "I mean, you don't have to tell me, and I won't pry, promise."

 

[siobhancan99]

Quinn eats a moment "i'm worried because they said strahd's journey started here." she takes another bite "and whatever gift he accepted in there caused him to kill the woman he loved. that was the price. I took the gift and I'm worried that it will start me down the road of being a monster. I'm worried that my desire to keep everyone safe and alive will cause me to make choices that ultimately are evil" she takes another bite of her stew "im worried that in taking something meant to preserve us, i've destroyed us"

 

[SubPhil91]

Ireena pulls Quinn lightly against her. "That won't happen, just because that's what he did doesn't mean it will happen to you. You're smart and you would never do anything like what he did. You won't become a monster like he did, and if we notice something is off we will tell you. I'm sure there is some way to reverse it if that's what you want. Not that it would be easy, but I'm still sure you could. You did something to potentially save people, even if you didn't know the risk your heart was in the right place. We will keep you safe from anything bad that comes from this Quinn. Until we know anything else will change besides your eyes, we can only take it day by day. You won't become evil, that's not who you are. Strahd wasn't exactly good before he took the gift. You're nothing like him. You won't turn evil.."

 

[siobhancan99]

Quinn nods and burrows in against Ireena "I want to believe that" she rests her head on her shoulder her keeps her arms around her, needing the comfort of her embrace more than food or even her verbal reassurance. "i did it for all of you. I just don't want it to bite me in the ass." she kisses Ireena's cheek "and who knows. maybe it will just make me a little sick or something. anyway, we have the ability if strahd does one of us in during the fight. ill hang back for sure as a result. at least till i feel like the power is used up."

 

[SubPhil91]

Ireena nods and keeps Quinn close. "I know you did it for us, which is why we will make sure nothing happens to you. But hopefully nothing too bad happens, like you said, maybe it'll just make you sick." Ireena kisses Quinn softly on the lips and presses her forehead against Quinn. "Either way, I won't let you turn evil, I won't let anything bad to you. You know I'm always here for you. Even in times of doubt. You mean the world to me, I'm here to make sure you are happy and safe. Always.

 

[siobhancan99]

Sighing, Quinn snuggles in against her "i know you guys are here for me" she kisses ireena again, then closes her eyes "so.... where are we headed and is there a reasonable inn between here and there?"

 

[SubPhil91]

Ireena smiles and thinks for a moment. "Well.. We could take a half day side track and head to Vallaki, otherwise.. No, there's nothing between here and his castle unfortunately. Though if you're wanting somewhere to warm up and relax.. We do have that crazy dragon doorknob we haven't used. Which.. I really wish I had thought about before now. But I guess nows as good of a time as any to use it if you'd like."

 

[siobhancan99]

Quinn facepalms. "we could ahve been using that the whole time" she shakes her head "ugh." she pulls it out and sets it against a rock face "So what do i do, just turn it and a door appears or something?"

 

[SubPhil91]

Ireena laughs and nods. As Quinn puts the handle against the rock a door appears. Turning the handle the door opens to reveal a small cottage surrounded by woods. The moon shines bright through the trees and reveals a small pond nearby. Ireena heads up and opens the door to the cabin revealing a large room with a makeshift kitchen and four other rooms. There are three bedrooms and one bathroom connected to the large living area. A large fireplace is set on the far wall of the cottage with wood already bundled in the fireplace. Ireena laughs and looks at Quinn. "We could have been using this the whole damn time. It looks so cozy.."

 

[siobhancan99]

Quinn sighs "i meant to but then we went to vallaki and then i forgot" she pounts "im going down tgo the pond to have a bath because half the reason we havent had sex in days is that i feel fucking nasty." she gathers up some soap and a towel and heads on out o get clean so she can stand herself for the rest of the night.

 

[SubPhil91]

Ireena laughs and grabs her own little bath bag before heading down to get clean. She straps down and gets in the warm water and sighs. "Okay this is nice, we've been missing out.." She starts to shave before washing up and going under water. She floats back up to the surface and looks up at the sky. "Too bad the sun isn't out, then this would be perfect. Probably should tell the others about this, but I wanted to get in the water first. I might be a little selfish.."

 

[siobhancan99]

Quinn lathers up and very carefully shaves, then gets into the water. "yeah well. this is still way better than all our freezing nights on the road. especially for people that arent curled up with you" she dunks under and vigorously scrabs her scalp as best she can to try to wash her hair a bit. she comes up out of the water then floats on her back next to Ireena "um. yeah..." she laughs and wraps a towel and then pops her head out the door to the camp "you all should go into the nice warm cottage through the magic door. move our shit in too so if anyone steals the horses that's all they steal"

 

[SubPhil91]

Everyone seems a bit surprised seeing Quinn sick her head out of the magical door. They gather up everything before heading inside. Erlen looks over at the pond before heading into the cottage. Marius and Ezmerelda had into the cottage and claim a room. Lucan looks over at the pond and ireena still swimming around. "Huh, well this is nice. Where did this come from?" He starts heading toward the pond while getting undressed. He steps in and goes underwater for a moment. "Oh wow, this is way better than that cold ass lake." He starts to lather up his body and looks over at Quinn. "Could we have been doing this the whole time..?"

 

[siobhancan99]

QUinn turns as red as her hair "NO" she wriggles a little and looks away "yes" she says more quietly "I forgot all about it because after we got it, we got to vallaki and then things were crazy." she looks back over "im sorry" she bites her lip and looks at him, then gets self conscious about her weird eyes and looks sort of away "but hey.... we have it now?"

 

[SubPhil91]

Lucan laughs and nods, "Its okay, we all forgot about it. Don't be so hard on yourself. We have it now and that's what matters, we can all enjoy it and warm up and bathe. No reason to be sorry, really." Lucan grabs Ireena and turns her toward Quinn. "Besides she knew what it did and forgot about it too. So if you want to take the blame she gets to share in it too." Ireena pouts and looks at Quinn. "Hey its not like he ever asked about it either right? This isn't really our fault."

 

[siobhancan99]

Quinn laughs "this one is pretty squarely on us angel" she slides over to her and wraps her arms around her "good thing we're pretty and Erlan isn't into boys. he's just gonna have to learn to forgive us" she runs her hands along Ireena's curvy body, then reaches back to run her hand along Lucan's chest.

 

[SubPhil91]

Ireena continues to pout and sighs. "I guess you're right.." She pulls Quinn against her and kisses her lips. "We are more than pretty, we are gorgeous, Erlen will forgive us or l will kick his butt." Lucan laughs and looks over at Quinn, "You know, I would love to watch that. But he will forgive you. He doesn't mind sleeping outside in the cold, he enjoys it. He will probably be weird and sleep outside here too." Ireena runs her hands over Quinn's body and down her sides to her waist.