The Raine of Strahd

Chapter 5

Raine coughed as her eyes fluttered open. Her vision was blurry to start, but then slowly became clear. She saw 4 men surrounding her. She gasped slightly and sat up quickly to scoot away. As soon as she did, she hissed in pain. 

"I would not recommend doing that." One the men glanced at her. Raine looked over, confused, and lifted up her shirt. Only then did she realize that she was not wearing the top half of her armor.

"Wh-where is my armor?" She asked tiredly. "Don't worry, Beau over there is mending it." Another man explained simply. "And you are?" She asked.

"I am Andre." He introduced himself and offered a hand. Andre seemed to be well mannered and dressed nicely. almost too nicely for battle. "Dressed a little nice for adventuring, don't you think?" She asked, raising a brow in question. "I believe all people should dress this nice." He replied. "It shows their true character." He said sharply, almost condescending and eyed her appearance.

Raine's face contorted into a slight anger but moved onto the next person. "And you are?" She asked the elven man she vaguely remembered before she passed out. "I am the great Beau." He replied with a smile. "You must've heard of me." He spoke arrogantly. "Uhh, no?" She replied, confused. Beau's eyes softened in disappointment, but only for a moment. "Oh. Well, don't worry! You'll soon learn about the legendary Beau!" He smiled confidently.

Raine's lips formed into a straight line upon these words. "Great..." She sighed. Vinny looked at Raine and pouted. "I'm glad you are alright." Raine glanced at him and smiled softly. "Oh, don't get your jingle bells in a twist, I'm fine." She waved her hand dismissively.

Beau glanced at her, confused as he worked on her armor. "You most certainly are not!" He scoffed. Raine shot him a look but shrugged it off and looked to the last man. "And you?"

The man who was sitting on a crate upside the inside wall of the carriage sighed. "I'm Nick." Raine waited patiently for a further explanation but did not receive one. "We are missing one more." Andre spoke. "He's on a separate mission back in town." He explained. "He should be rejoining us in a couple of days."

Raine nodded at this and understood. She studied each of them carefully and looked back to Vinny. "So what are you doing in Barovia?" She asked curiously. "I mean, this place is no piece of pie." She shook her head.

"We got an invitation from a man named Strahd Von Zarovich and was interested in the idea of being his guests." Nick replied.
Raines' hearts dropped like an iron cannon ball. Her face paled in color as her eyes widened. "What?" Nick asked.

"I highly suggest you don't do that." She explained. "What's the worst that could happen?" Beau asked.
Andre gave Beau a sideways glance and looked back to Raine. "As we have seen the creatures around here are not so appealing, I'm sure Strahd must not be so welcoming himself." Andre came to this conclusion after a moment of picking his word choice.

Raine nodded sincerely. "Strahd is not one who is known for bringing joy upon this land." She explained. Andre nodded and took his dagger out, and started to toy with it to keep himself occupied. The dagger had a similar handle to Raine's, but what caught her eye was the inscription in the handle.

"Where... did you get that?" She raised a brow curiously."Oh, this?" Andre asked and gestured to the small weapon in his hand. "It was our friends'. I have no idea where she went, though." Andre frowned. "Her name was Kosmic..." Raine felt her heart skip a beat.

"You knew her?" She asked.
"Yeah? How did you?" He asked back.
"She was one of my closest friends." She answered.
"She was our party member for years." Andre answered her previous question, confused.

Raine's brows contorted into confusion 'but...but how'd she get out of Barovia?' She wondered. Raine felt like her whole world was upside down. 'Strahd. That's who'.

Vinny stared in question. "Raine, are you alright?" He asked, taking off his jesters hat off and sweeping a hand through his short brown hair. His blue eyes looked big and dopey as if he truly did care about her.

Raine whimpered as she stood up and hopped out of the cart. Her lower abdomen burning, but she didn't care. She needed to walk away before emotions decided to get ugly with her. Rage. Sadness. Confusion. Which one was it? All of them. Raine felt a mixture of emotions all strong. This new party was already trouble, but maybe that's what she needed to defeat him.

Vinny looked to the others for advice on what to do. Beau and Andre glanced at him but paid no mind. Vinny huffed and followed after Raine, concerned she would only get hurt more.

Raine continued to walk until she reached a small creek in the woods. She sat at the edge and stared into the water. Vinny stopped shortly before reaching her and sighed in relief. "You know the reason why I wanted to find these adventurers so bad?" She asked him. Raine didn't see his response but didn't mind.

"I wanted to see these adventurers because I want to help them avenge my friend and kill Strahd." She declared seriously.