Doru — Quest

Area: Svalich Woods, Village of Barovia (E) — Church

Status (as of session 24): Dormant. Doru is loose — freed from his chains in session 4 when Vess fled as a deer; he chased her into the Svalich Woods and has not been seen since. The party is now inside Castle Ravenloft. The Village of Barovia is far behind them, and this thread cannot move until they leave the castle and choose to backtrack. Donavich is still at the church. She does not know what has happened to the party or to Doru. Time in the woods keeps passing for Doru either way.

What Happened

Donavich lost her son for the second time — the first when he came back wrong, the second when she could no longer even keep him caged. She is still at the church. She has been there since.

The Quest

There are two versions of this resolution, and only one can be true.

Version 1 — He is found and it goes badly. Doru has been in the woods long enough that the person underneath the hunger has grown very thin. The party finds him, or he finds them. The fight is not easy. Donavich, if told, will ask them to bring her something to bury.

Version 2 — He can still be reached. Someone who speaks to Doru carefully, who can get past the hunger for long enough — a cleric, someone who can restrain him without violence, someone who manages to invoke something he still remembers — finds the person still inside. What that costs, and whether restoration is possible, is a longer problem. But the door is not fully closed.

Decide which version is true before this quest begins.

Donavich

She is at the church. She has not left. She has been praying to a god who does not answer in Barovia, which she has known for years, which has not stopped her.

If the party returns to the village, she will find out they are there. She will ask about Doru. She will not ask them to save him — she knows what he is now. She will ask if they've seen him. Her voice will be careful and very tired.

If the party brings news, she will listen to all of it before reacting.

What she can offer the party: The church is one of the few places in Barovia with residual sanctity. Not powerful. Not reliable. But the consecration has not fully failed. It is a place that can be used for certain rituals, certain rests, certain conversations that need to happen somewhere that isn't completely Strahd's.

Connection to the Party

Vess: She was the deer. Doru chased her because of what she did. She may or may not know he never caught her. Either way, if Doru is found, her involvement in his escape is part of the context. Whether she carries any responsibility for what he did in the woods after is a question worth leaving open.

Corvin (died session 21): He was chained in that cellar. He watched Donavich feed people to the thing her son had become. He was going to be next. He got out. With Corvin gone, the party's firsthand knowledge of that cellar went with him — if they return, Donavich will ask where the armored man is.