After getting our strength back, it was time to continue and work on solutions to fighting the evils of this land and our own plight to get home. After discussing at length, it was decided that we would head to Krezk as our first stop in the hopes that we could find the Abbot and he could heal us of our many curses and afflictions. I know my incessant stomach pain made even breathing uncomfortable some times. Others in the group had been suffering from boils and other physical maladies that have made our time in this evil land even more miserable than it could have been.
Hearing that the Dark Riders were about in the land searching for us, guarding every crossroads in a tightening net, caused us to avoid the roads entirely. We swung a wide berth through the Svalich forest, having to make two river crossings a good deal north of the bridges at the Luna River and the Raven River. We used Janlynn's divine power to walk upon the water of the Rivers and Tetsuo's mysterious magic to hide ourselves from notice. We avoided an encounter with a pack of wolves, but the rest of the trip was thankfully uneventful.
We went directly to meet with Dmitry upon arrival and asked him more questions about the Abbey and the Abbot, but learned no new information from him. We next went to visit our adoptive grandmother, Oola. She welcomed us warmly and we asked if we could visit with her and once again helped her with chores. Her tea is perhaps the only salvation I have found in this cursed land which gives me some solace and remembrance of home; plus it is the only thing that momentarily causes relief for my stomach.
After learning about the power site at the shrine, we were all anxious to investigate the gazebo and pool with sharper eyes this time. Thinking that the mysterious disk that may power the shrine might have fallen into the pool, I dove several times into the water in search of it. I could feel the warmth and peace of the divinely glittering water washing away some of my stress and fear and as deep as I could dive, I could find no bottom to the pool. It seemed impossibly deep and I remember thinking that perhaps this magic pool led directly to the divine plane of the Morninglord himself.
Looking under the floorboards of the gazebo revealed a couple of very strange object buried there. The first was a large and evil looking mandrake root. All know that this root is used in witchcraft rituals, and this spoke clearly of some hex that the Hags had placed upon the shrine. We burned the mandrake root to ash. The other object was a well-crafted brass music box that when opened revealed a scene of two imps torturing a human in hell. Nim decided to keep the music box, perhaps for further study as he was always interested in the mysterious and gaining an understanding evil.
Finding nothing further, we headed up the narrow winding track to the Abbey far above the village. The Abbey looked centuries old but had maintained its structure fairly well over these many years. We approached the iron gate at the end of the track and as we were deciding how we would approach entering, a strange and misshapen creature appeared on the other side of the gate. This creature looked like a strange cross-breed of several different creatures and animals. He looked like a beardless dwarf with patches of donkey flesh covering his face and body. He had one human ear and one wolf’s ear, and a protruding wolf’s snout and fangs. His arms and hands were human, but his legs and feet were leonine, and he had a donkey’s tail. He barely spoke and he wore a plain wool cloak. When he did speak it was as the loud, shrill sound of a donkey.
The creature shrieked simple one word exclamations "Why?!" or "Who?!" or "Otto!" We learned that his name was Otto and that once he figured out what we wanted, he would take us to see the Abbot. He seemed friendly enough in his own simple way.
We also met the very shy Zygfrek Belview. The left side of her face and body was covered with lizard scales, the right with tufts of gray wolf fur. Between these tufts was pale human skin. One of her eyes was that of a feline, and her fingers and hands resembled cat’s paws with opposable thumbs. She had a gruff voice and wore a gray cloak with black fur trim pulled up around her face.
She was very timid and avoided looking at us directly, only with furtive glances from the corners of her cloak. As disfigured as she and Otto were, rather than fear, I felt a strong sense of compassion for them both. This Abbey was a very strange place and my deep curiosity desperately wanted to find out who the rest of the Belview family was. What sort of person was the Abbot, who would look after these pitiful creatures?
Otto led us through the gate and into the main courtyard of the Abbey. The area was thick with fog but we could make out several stone sheds with large locks on them against the walls of the courtyard. From the noises within we could only imagine what manner of creatures resided within. It became apparent, and was confirmed, that the creatures inside the sheds were in fact relatives of Otto and his sister. We could see the outline of guards along the parapets, but from this side we could see that they were but scarecrows set up to look like guards to outsiders.
There was a well with a suspended rope down within, and we could hear skittering, scratching sounds coming from it as well. Nearby there was a bat-like creature chained to a stake, continually straining against its bindings to escape; we were told it was a family member as well. The bells chimed as we crossed the courtyard and we could hear the squeals and howls not only coming from the cells in the courtyard, but from the (south?) tower as well. It sounded like pure madness or, as I imagined, the tortured souls in hell would sound like. Otto led us into the north tower.
He led us through a foyer and into a large main hall. There were two staircases, a homey hearth, with a golden sun disc hanging above it, and a large dining table. Surely this was the disc we needed to activate the full power of the shrine! We were introduced to the Abbot, a handsome man in monk's robes, as he was aiding a young auburn haired woman in dining. There were many strange things to notice about this woman at first glance, the least of which was the fact that she seemed almost oblivious to her surroundings and even the simplest tasks of eating seemed hard for her to achieve. Her face and body showed much stitching and scarring, reminding us of Sir Greggor, the flesh golem whom we freed in Berez. And the queerest fact of all: she held a strong resemblance to Ireena, Mariana, and supposedly Tatyana: Strahd's love.
We were greeted officially by the Abbot, but with no real warmth. We spoke of our hopes that he could heal us of our afflictions and after some questioning and conversation we were able to come to a queer sort of arrangement. The Abbot never spoke specifically in regards to what the girl was, other than that her name was Vasilka. He spoke of needing us to locate for him a wedding dress suitable for a noble wedding. He told us of his plan to marry off Vasilka to Strahd! His mad plan was that as she looks so much like his love, Tatyana, that he will marry her and this will sooth his hardened heart, thereby helping this land and its people. I can tell you as sure as I am writing this now that there is no way Strahd would be stupid or blind enough to fall for this plan. This speaks very clearly to the sanity of the Abbot and also brings into question just what he has been up to with the poor Belview family all these years.
Understanding that this likely very powerful and eternal man was insane brought us no comfort but as the task seemed fairly simple and he had promised us three powerful healings/ resurrections as payment, we quickly left to pursue our search in the village below. On the way out we met Cloven Belview, a truly unique looking creature. Larger than his relatives, he has two heads; one a larger, satyr like head and the other a smaller, enfant like head. His right foot was that of a bear and his left hand was that of a crab or lobster. He wore simple robes and plays the viola.
We visited the seamstress there and she said that it could take weeks to create such a dress, which was beyond our timeframe for sure. No one in the village had any existing dress that would work, but we heard that the only existing dress like the one we were looking for would have to be the Baroness' wedding dress, in Vallaki. Unfortunately we had learned that the Vallakovich's have been overthrown in Vallaki by the Wachter family, and were likely dead.
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