As written by Nim Burrfoot.
Unfortunately, but almost expectedly, such luxuries as 'sleep' are rarely afforded those stuck in Barovia. Rictavio indicated that, due to the triggering of the door glyphs, this place was likely to be swarmed soon. Swarmed with what? He did not get into much detail on it, but we certainly were hearing an increase in the amount of howls from the surrounding area. In deciding where we should go, we originally thought we were going to head out to Kresk, but after some thought we agreed to circumvent the lake to the river to the North-east to see if we could find the dwellings of the Dusk Elves. It was hoped we would find them and perchance a safe space to sleep and if not, the time to investigate would at least clear up the area around the tower so we could return there, now that Rictavio taught us the secret of opening the door without getting blasted.
The hike around the lake and up along the river in the foothills of Mt. Baratok to where we expected the valley to be, was definitely arduous. Hard climbs and tricky fording of the river was necessary, but at least it was nice to be surrounded by nature. The hike was an escape that would have been rewarding even if we did not find the Dusk Elves. But find them we did.
We found a calm pool in the usually fast and churning river where a beautifully lit group of quaint homes were. Standing at the shore watching us were the last of the Dusk Elves. They are tragically few in number, and we were, of course, met with suspicion. I stepped forward and said we were here to help. I offered our services to one who suffered a great loss and was troubled with dark dreams. They seemed to know right away who I was referring to. We needed to leave all our weapons behind but were allowed to go into the village to meet him. His name was Kasimir. He kept his story mostly to himself, but he seemed to know what we were talking about. He said that he did need help, but to help him, we would need to be properly provisioned. This would be no mere hike over rocky terrain, but a full winter expedition into the mountains to the Amber Temple. To survive it, we would need climbing gear and heavy furs for 7, but we could help Kasimir and, in so doing, perhaps find some 'knowledge of the ancient'. Kazimir's description seemed to hint at Mme. Eva's reading about the 'small castle beneath a mountain, guarded by Amber giants'. I am not sure why we are still following the reading of Mme. Eva, considering the Martikovs cautioned against her and the Old Bonegrinder yielded no Sword of Sunlight. I guess we are just investigating what little we have, at this point. She did appear, at least, to be correct about Kasimir.
The Elves granted us a safe bit of land to pitch a campsite, and we finally managed to get our much needed sleep. It was cool, grassy land instead of a warm floor in a tower, but in among the Elves, it still felt safe. The ground was still desecrated, but it felt as 'away' from Barovia as I have felt since we arrived. And most odd of all, we were not attacked in our dreams by Juniper and Ophelia.
The reprieve the fiends gave us that night would not grant them any mercy. The next morning, after consultation with our foremost expert on the Hags of Barovia (Snelb) it was decided that we would go directly to the Old Bonegrinder. This time, sword or no, we were going to slay all evils inside and burn it to the ground. We knew that they would likely operate from one of three sites at this point, and it no longer made any sense to allow any of them to stand.
We trekked carefully back to the outskirts of Vallaki, where we managed to find some ravens. Finn, in what seemed to me only a series of squalks and trills, asked if they would be so kind as to take a note to Danica Martikov. We had to hope once more for more generosity from the Martikov family. We asked that they try to gather what mountaineering gear they could, as discreetly as possible for our future expedition to the Amber Temple. After that was done, it was decided that we would not show our faces back in Vallaki just yet. We skirted the town and made our way back to the Durst windmill. Just as we were nearing the point we knew we could see it, Tetsuo again used his gift to allow us all to pass without a trace right to the very yard of the looming monstrosity. A force of a dozen or so Lost hounds were guarding outside, and since we were hoping to get as much of a jump on the residents as possible, we charged directly at them without pause. We made short work of what we can only hope is the last of these abominable creatures! Now, we turn our sights on the Old Bonegrinder itself....
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