Having done what she could for me, Janlynn turned her attention towards our vicious opponent. Gathering all of her strength and faith she cast forth a bolt of holy energy at Juniper which seared across her form. She was starting to look like she was suffering from their attacks. Tetsuo verily leapt across the room viciously attacking Juniper with flying kicks and rapid blows.
In fury, Juniper once again turned into a collapsing column of bugs and vanished from view - not coming back right away. This gave everyone an opportunity to turn their attention to the ghouls who had been attacking them. Janlynn tried to leap up at the ceiling to see if she could rip the evil gem from poor Ulric's chest to no avail. Tetsuo attacked in a blur against the ghouls and Akkiir used his mystic green flame blade to destroy two of the ghouls. One ghoul managed to slip behind Janlynn as she was still trying to get the gem from above and she took a vicious wound, momentarily dropping her to one knee.
Another ghoul dropped before the heroes as Juniper appeared once again from a column of bugs across the room, this time with my paralyzed, gore drenched form in her clutches, her free hand poised to rip my throat out in a fraction of a moment. All I could do was look on in my paralyzed state, as all of my friends rushed forward to save my life. Before her wicked claws could rip out my throat, and before my friends could reach me, a blast of pure golden light rushed forth from Janlynn and blasted the evil hag to ashes.
Immediately the great doors are flung open and a frustrated Uphir rushed into the room, the body from the ceiling fell as the black vines begin to wither on the ceiling. Tetsuo was standing beneath and the rotten form of Ulric collapsed upon him. Everyone was exulted over the victory and excited congratulations rang throughout the room. Juniper had been on our list to deal with for some time. Unfortunately I was still paralyzed and would be for some time.
The ghost of Lazlo Ulric appeared near the fallen body amidst the group of happy heroes. He began to speak to the group in an angry, other-worldly voice. He was as a tortured spirit who had been suffering for ages upon ages at the hands of the cruel hag, Juniper. Feeling the strong emotions emanating from the spirit, they chose to speak of how they destroyed Juniper and a brief explanation of their quest is in Berez.
He just wanted to be left alone, but was willing to answer some of our questions for the deed we had just accomplished. He confirmed that the ghostly girl in the hall who was murdered by the doll was indeed his daughter. Ulric told us that the woman we were looking for, the rose plucked too soon, was a beautiful young woman who very much was said to resemble Strahd's beloved, Tatyana. Strahd drained her blood so that he could take her as his bride but before she could be completely turned, Lazlo and a knight named Gregor (Who belonged to the Grim Order) killed her. Strahd flew into a rage and slew the knight. He left Lazlo for Juniper to play with.
Through Strahd's dark magic, he caused the Luna River to overflow it's banks and completely flood the town of Berez. It remains a rotted marsh to this day, completely un-livable to any sane person. Ulric said we could find the grave of Marina two hundred paces west of the house. What we found was a monument of a kneeling young woman with a rose in her hands, who looked exactly like Ireena. This confirmed for us his reason for wanting Ireena.
Beneath the statue was found a hidden cache containing an ancient looking tome. What we had found was what we believed to be the History of Strahd. What information could be gleaned from reading this tome? We never had the opportunity to find out. We were exhausted and needed a safe place to rest. Our immediate choice was to just get out of the marsh as quickly as we could and try to find a cottage to hole up in for a time. We were wounded and our powers spent from the many battles in the House of Ulric.
We avoided a potential battle against zombies which crept up out of the swampy water nearby. We were anxious to move on to safety. Backtracking our trail we saw a haunting display flashing among the thick mists of the marsh. We saw a ghostly re-enactment of a great battle from the depths of the past. Two large forces clashed together in a great fray, supposedly one side serving the devil Strahd and the other, perhaps warriors of the Grim Order, or the Knights from Argynvostholt. The latter part was confirmed when a great spirit dragon flew over the field of battle, sending the images in the mists swirling and vanishing before our eyes.
All stood in amazement at the grand display that had played out before us. Not wanting to linger long, we traveled forth letting our imaginations play out the rest of the phantom battle we had been privileged to witness. Not long after, things took a decidedly downward turn, almost destroying us all completely. Sitting in his saddle in the mists ahead of us on the trail was one of the terrifying Black Riders - lieutenants of the devil, Strahd Von Zarovich. Silently emerging from the mists around him were several of the Shadow Mastiff's who serve the devil.
My mind and body froze in fear. I could feel the riders lance piercing my body once again, just as it had done in my haunting dream. I relived the feeling of the ancient power of this creature washing over me in waves, knowing that death surely awaited me. If not from the lance, or the massive maws of the shadow creatures around him, surely my vision of drowning in the dungeons of Castle Ravenloft would come true.
The next moments are a blur in my memory. My friends dove off to the side of the trail hoping to escape the charge of the rider. Akkiir barely managed to avoid the charge, but I was frozen in the spot and felt the crushing charge of the massive body of the otherworldly mount and its burning hooves. I blacked out, but my friends have told me that I was crushed and trampled in the initial rush, and then the silent mastiffs were on me in an instant, my twisted and ripped body being fought over by two of the dark creatures. It is surely by the grace of the Morninglord that I have survived to write this account.
Janlynn bravely ran forward to pull by tattered body from the competing Mastiff's as the rider was further down the trail turning his mount around for another charge. Janlynn managed to stabilize me and grant some of her remaining healing energy to keep me alive. Uphir moved up to engage the Mastiff's in a murderous frenzy, knowing that she needed to reduce the number of opponents if we were to survive this.
The rider had turned his mount and returned for another charge, ripping into our group savagely. He dropped his lance and drew a great long sword to bear on my friends. They attacked the rider with everything they had left. Akkiir and Nim's blades flashed, Tetsuo dodged in and out raining blow upon blow against the rider and his horse. Uphir continued battling the wolves while Janlynn tried with everything she had to help her friends live through this.
One thing became immediately clear - the Dark Rider was impossibly fast with his attacks. Every attack against him was responded to with a vicious riposte and no matter how much damage they thrust upon him, he seemed to withstand it with stoic indifference. He even took blows aimed at his horse unto himself. He was tearing the group to shreds. He took notice of Janlynn and focused his attacks upon her and she soon was brought down before his might.
No sooner was I healed by Janlynn then I was hit once again by a glancing blow from his horse's hooves and I lay in the mud, laying as still as I could, playing dead. I could hear the horrible swishing of his deadly blade and the thudding sound of his wheeling horse's hooves, but I dared not even turn my head. Seeing Janlynn fall, I used the small healing powers at my disposal to revive her before she slipped away forever. I was forced to move slightly to heal Uphir as I could hear her mighty roar of pain as she went down before the onslaught of Shadow Mastiffs. She was back on her feet again, but for how long?
It was clear we were fighting a battle we could not possibly win. It was with the last threads of pride that we even tried. We would not die easily before this blight of a creature and his despised master. Janlynn was soon down again and Nim rushed forward to heal her with a potion, but this soon proved to be wasted as no sooner had Nim completed his heroic deed then he was brought down by the Rider's blade, and Janlynn almost immediately after that.
I could feel all of my strength draining from me and out of sheer defiance I called forth the power of the Fey Wild and sent forth blasting energy into the hated Black Rider. With a short lived smile, I saw him fly backwards off his saddle, and then darkness, as the hooves of the horse came crushing down upon me once again.
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