This cursed land. There is just so much evil in this land and people who need our aid, our list of objectives continues to grow. Save the children; destroy the tree; save the wine; save Ireena from certain doom; get Tetsuo un-possessed; have ourselves "un-cursed"; save whomever from whatever the Baron has planned for Vallaki; destroy crates of vampires; find a dusk elf; find a sword; find a holy artifact; find an amber cave; find a missing girl whose Blinsky I gave away; kill a multitude of hags; confront the Night Mother?; confront Strahd?
It's funny, that we have so much that we have placed before us to accomplish, that no one has even thought to add "Escape Barovia and go home" to the list. I would laugh at the absurdity of that if I weren't so battle tired and nauseous from my ever present curse. The pain of a belly full of acrid water is my best description of the constant and knifing cramps which plague me. I would be deceitful if I said that it is not impossibly hard to keep the spirits of my heroic friends up while suffering from such illness. But silent I shall remain of such things. Everyone has such an important place in our group and has earned every battle scar they have won, ten times over. My lot, in absence of wielding a martial weapon, is to try and keep hope alive for my friends as well as use my magic tricks to help where I can.
Discussion was had as to what to do with the smoking bramble staff and even as we discussed how we could possibly destroy it, Tetsuo flicked the dark item up against the wall and, with one well placed blow, sundered it. The smoke and evidence of the magic of the item disappeared completely. I shudder even as I try to find the words here to describe what happened next. As the staff was destroyed, the most bone-chilling scream seemed to carry upon the wind throughout the winery, leaving all present astounded.
Janlynn seems to be in better spirits than she has been in days after the colossal battle and subsequent rest. A strange exchange happened between Janlynn and Tetsuo as we decided what our next course of action should be. She believed that Tetsuo was under the effects of a curse or some such ailment and wanted to touch him and cure him. Tetsuo politely declined as he said he felt fine, but eventually he acquiesced and she cast her miracle - The monk's body shuddered briefly and we could see a ghostly halo evaporate off of his body as she did this.
Our valiant friend Tetsuo had been possessed, and by the ghost of Ismark, no less. Janlynn had been observing Tetsuo carefully for some time and felt that his almost illogical passion to go and rescue Ireena was somewhat out of character. He was much relieved to be rid of this tortured spirit and thanked Janlynn as the truest of friends. He no longer felt a desperate need to go after Ireena, but rather the appropriate amount of desire as we all felt.
After much discussion we agreed that we would head back to Vallaki with a shipment of wine (There were only six barrels of wine in total that were believed to be free from tampering. Three for Vallaki and three for Krezk). We would resupply, get some much needed sleep and on the morrow investigate what madness the Baron had planned for the festival. Our next stop would be to Yester Hill to defeat the druids, destroy their tree, and rescue the Titanite stone. Then we would take a shipment of wine to Krezk, barter our way into the town, visit the abbey and see about cures for our ailments, and locate and save Ireena. Those plans lasted less than an hour.
At some point, unbeknownst to the rest of us, the ghost of Ismark once again took up residence in our beloved monk. As we were well under way towards our destination, our speedy comrade leapt off the wagon and began running as fast as he could towards Krezk! Tetsuo is uncannily fast and there was no way we were going to be able to catch him. In hopes that we could at least match his speed I cast a spell upon Uphir which gave her comparable speed. I leapt upon her back and soon we had left our comrades behind and were rushing down the road as well. We beseeched the others to continue on to Vallaki and we would return there once we caught Tetsuo.
As Akkiir and Nim always said, we should not split up. Somehow we managed to be off before they could stop us and they continued on. Our tale, Uphir and I, is a fairly simple one. We made it all the way to Krezk and could tell that Tetsuo had used his uncanny abilities to destroy any trace of his trail. We could only suppose that he had stealthed up and climbed over the wall into the town. We did not want to imagine what sort of trouble he could get into with Ismark controlling him, but there was no way that we were going to be able to sneak in. We turned around and rushed back in the direction of the rest of our comrades and when we found them, they were bloodied from a serious battle.
Better judgement came over the others as they decided that their only proper course of action was to follow us to Krezk and try and rescue Tetsuo. We should never have split up. On their way back on the road to Krezk, they were ambushed by Druids and their minions. They battled ferociously against overwhelming opponants. I was not present for this battle, so I cannot give too much detail at this time, but it must have been hard won. Janlynn had received a most grievous wound to her face, she had been struck in the right eye by a weapon! It was well bandaged and healing spells had been applied, but I have a feeling that this wound may be quite substantial - perhaps even the loss of her eye, I have not been able to examine the wound.
Soon we were on the road and once again the well defended walls of Krezk soon loomed before us in the distance, as the rain pounded and lightning flashed in the black sky...
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