Cast
Mary
AliveFriendly
Lancelot's owner and Gertruda's mother. We gave her back her dog and would not promise her daughter. She heard a promise anyway.
At home in the village with Lancelot, waiting for a daughter who has not come back.
- Last seen
- Village of Barovia
- First met
- Session 4
- Last seen in
- Session 4
What we owe, and what we are doing about it
-
Keep an Eye Out for Gertruda
Mary's daughter, missing. We would not promise to find her. Mary heard a promise anyway.
The night we brought Lancelot home, Mary begged us to find her daughter. Gertruda is blonde and in her mid-twenties, and she was gone one morning without a note, probably out looking for the dog. We told Mary the truth: we "can't promise something that we can't guarantee". We offered our level best and a watch on the road. She took Lancelot home anyway, saying "You've promised now. I've heard you promise."
Ismark thinks Gertruda is almost certainly dead. If she isn't, he says, she is in the castle, or with the witches in the ruins of Berez to the south, who take in wayward young women. We are keeping an eye out, which so far is all we have done.
- Who
- A woman of the Village of Barovia. Lancelot is her dog; Gertruda is her daughter.
- Where
- Her home in the village.
- Status
- Alive, with her dog back and her daughter still missing.
- First met
- Session 4, knocking at Ismark's door after dark.
The knock
Night had fallen on our first evening in the village when someone hammered on Ismark's door. He told us all to hide, then called us out again: it was only Mary, who had heard there were "mercenaries" in town. "Oh, here they are. Please, please, please, my daughter, she's gone missing."
She found her dog first. Lancelot had been missing for weeks, and there he was at our feet. "Oh, he's so thin." Lily told her, proudly and truthfully, "And we didn't eat him. I spoke to him. He was frightened." When we said where we had found him, Mary's face fell: "The Durst's? Oh. Bad business."
Gertruda
Her daughter is blonde and in her mid-twenties. Mary woke one morning and she was gone, with no note. The family think she went out looking for the dog. She does not have red hair ("Thank the Morninglord"), and Mary apologised at once to Ireena, who does. Ireena took it kindly: "It's all right. I understand."
What we promised, and what she heard
"Promise me. Promise me. Promise me you'll find her." We would not. One of us put it honestly: "We literally could die as soon as we walk out of this village, so I don't want to make promises I can't keep." We said we would do our level best and keep our eyes open on the road. Mary left with Lancelot in her arms, insisting all the way to the door: "You've promised now. I've heard you promise. You've promised."
Once she had gone, Ismark told us what he thought. Gertruda is almost certainly dead. If she is not, she is either Strahd's prisoner in Castle Ravenloft, or she has been taken by the witches in the ruins of Berez, somewhere to the south, "who take wayward girls, young women, and induct them into their ranks."
What we still don't know
- Is Gertruda anywhere we could reach? Berez is off our road, and the castle is where Ismark's map tells us never to go.
- One of us wondered whether she could have been the ghost maid in Death House. Ismark would only say that the mists do strange things to time.
