PLANS

INTRODUCTIONS

Kaolyn:
In your self-imposed exile, you've found yourself setting up camp alongside the nearby dirt road -- it is not too uncommon for travelers to cross your path, but whilst the fire roars before you...It rises high. It roars up before your eyes--

Standing before you is a figure clad in bright red robes. An old, haggard crone  that smiles, offering forth a red letter.

"Forgive me for interrupting, dear, but I must tell you of something dire. Something urgent."

(PAUSE)

"There is a darkness, dwelling deep  inside of you. There is more to that friend of yours than even you or he might seem to realize... And I believe you both desire him to one day be seen in the flesh. There is only one place you may find him. One place where you may either purge that darkness, or learn to embrace it before it eats you inside and out. Beyond the amber gates at the heart of a mountain, the source awaits. Beware your choice. Beware refusing it..."

She hands you the letter, and with it, a curious card.

Step within the woods at night, my child. There, you will begin your journey to finding yourself -- and the one friend that has always been beside you."


Kaolyn. In your self-imposed exile, you've found yourself wandering the roads often. One day of sleeping alongside the dirt road, however, lead to a strange dream that you miiight just remember forever. If only because that 'dream' felt like less of a dream and more of a reality.

The flickering fire, roaring into a bright blaze, only to reveal a haggard, robe-clad crone dressed in red robes. She smiled, and greeted herself as Madam Eva. You remember her words before she offered the red letter -- along with a mysterious card.

"There is a darkness, dwelling deep within you, Kaolyn...There is more to this friend of yours than even you or they may seem to realize. And I believe, that both of your desire to have him be either seen in the flesh, or freed from the prison of your body. There is only one place that you may find to help cure yourself of your malady...One place to either purge the darkness, or learn to embrace it before it devours you. Inside and out."

The instructions were clear; "When you wake up...Wander into the woods at night, carrying this letter and my card. Seek me in Barovia. You will find more answers there."

With card and envelope ready, you are left with but one night in the woods away from changing your life forever...Hopefully those meddlesome bounty hunters seeking out an 'escaped demon monk' wouldn't be able to follow you there.



_____

Alexi: Alexi has had countless tea parties in her life time.

To her, the mortals living their mayfly lives were a little silly! Imagine, expiring from AGE? Nonsense! Not something that the Duchess has ever seen nor experienced in her lifetime of giving teaparties to all the important people within the Feywild. Important how? That's irrelevant, just know they're important because the Duchess said so!

It was thus, a very big shock to her when, during her times, she noticed that...There's a distinct lack of four very, very important guests.

The esteemed Winter, Summer, Autumn, and Spring queens! All gone! Vanished! Disappeared!

Sure, they were important...Important people sometimes had to do their own business that wasn't discussed over the course of a tea party, but their disappearance had left Alexi more than vexxed. The silence was palpable without them, even with her usual guests bustling and bumbling about. No seasons for weeks and weeks on end...You could only imagine how awful it was in their homeland, then. Without them, there would be no color. No season. No vibrancy. Only grey...

And then, the strange things happened. The tea falling over the table by itself. The branches falling from trees to plop onto the table, much to the chagrin of her guests. And then...

Dreams were something Alexi still had, like some mortals, though rather infrequently, perhaps. She remembers the red-robed old lady that came to her...

She introduced herself as Madam Eva, and whilst extending a hand that held a red envelope and bizarre card, she said;

"You have seen it, have you not?...Your friends. They are long gone, and so too is the color from the lands they once saw...Color has left their home, and the spirits of Summer, Autumn, Winter, and Spring have all faded from this world. They implore that you find them...bring color to this land, as the Duchess of the Tea Party. Step into the woods at night with this envelope, and you will be one step closer to finding the four seasons...

And help restore color to their dreary, forsaken land."

Waking up, the only thing Alexi remembered was the old woman's words...And of course, the card and red envelope she was granted, which was now held firmly in her hand when she woke.


"The devil is ancient. And so has become the land. You must restore the holy places of the elder Four, whose whispers are as wind and whose tears are as dew. Look to the misted hill, the drowned spirits, and the lonely mill...Listen to the raven's cry,"


---
Ricci

Ricci's life had always been rather strange.

Cat-like traits graced her, and yet there was a certain natural knack for magical powers that she and both her parents were very familiar with. It was something she had never truly questioned -- and it was better that way. Questioning how Fey worked was usually a quick hop and skip around the answers that you never even wanted in the first place.

However...Strange occurrences had happened. A few misfortunes here and there; a twig that suddenly appeared at the feet. A snapping branch that narrowly crashed upon your head.


FREN


"Simply wander into the woods on the overworld, at night. There, you will find your path to Barovia. Seek me, Madam Eva, and you regain your success and much more, Fren. When you arrive in Barovia...Find a young man who directs the flow of coin, within the village where All is Well."

Waking from his dream, he was given a red letter...And that mysterious card.