FINN'S JOURNAL
Finn's Journal #35 – Jan 15 – 2018 ...... 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 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....
Finn's Journal #36 – Jan 22 – 2018
We moved quickly across the distance to the old windmill, noticing movement from the cave on the cliff but no direct attack. Just to be sure, we applied our candle wax solution to our ears once again to combat the queer song of the bats. It took only a few shoulder blows from Uphir to break down the door and soon we were standing in the cursed kitchen area once again. Nim and Tetsuo rushed to scout upstairs to find any enemies and soon returned having seen nothing amiss.
The kitchen itself looked as if the hags had been back, replacing some of the frogs and chickens in their pens. The oven was cold and there was no direct evidence that they had been baking new 'pastries'. Nim's pocket tadpole, Snelb, had indicated that he could detect two living, thinking creatures within range, and they were fearful - the hags were here!
We opened the stout door leading to the underground portion of the mill and cautiously moved on into the dank and dark tunnels. Everything at first seemed to be as we left it, except that any scorpion or other bodies had been cleaned up (No doubt do to the very lucky and sated cave fisher we had left alive). Checking the first tunnels revealed nothing of interest and at last we found ourselves travelling down the same long corridor towards the hags lair. I felt my hair stand on end as I anticipated arcing blasts of white lightning to come coursing down the tunnel. Luckily this was not the case.
Rounding the corner to the spot where the hag, Bella, had been killed, Snelb indicated he could only sense one fearful creature now. One of the hags must have escaped! Checking the area and the cupboard once again, another child was found - she looked about four years old and very terrified. The hag had been there, but now she was somewhere amongst the smoky ether, just beyond sight, sound, and touch. I gathered up the child and attempted to keep her calm as we trudged back up into the mill. We unanimously knew that we could not leave the mill as a safe haven for the hags, so we set it alight and watched it burn in the morning air. Glad we could save another child, but sour that we could not battle the hags, we turned our sights towards the bat cave high above.
A path was found that wound its way up the rockly cliff, leading eventually to a set of circular standing stones with ancient pictographs upon them. We rested a moment as we spied the land ahead. We would need climbing gear if we were to reach the cave of the bats, that much was clear as the trail dropped off and it was a horizontal climb of about three hundred feet from our position. There was no choice but to turn back from the cave and take the child to safety.
We decided to take the chance and return to Vallaki so that we could put the child in the care of Father Lucien at the church there. We snuck in the south gate and made our way west to the church. We were spotted by guardsmen who rushed off to no doubt let Strazni know we had returned. Wasting no time, we met up with Lucien and informed him of our deeds at the Bonegrinder and asked him to once again take charge of an abused child. May the Morning Lord shine his warmth and blessings upon them all.
Feeling the pressure of time, we quickly moved on to the inn to check in with Danika and Urwin. The inn was quiet as we slipped up and into our rooms. Shortly thereafter Urwin came up to our room and we filled him in on our progress at Yester Hill and the Bonegrinder. He requested that he be given the Titanite stone, so that he can present it to his father, Davian, at the winery. He indicated that he needed to get back into the good graces of his father. We thought hard about what we would do with the stone and ultimately it was decided that we would trust Urwin with this powerful object.
We talked about what gear and equipment we would need to continue our exploration of the bat cave and ultimately our expedition to far off Mount Ghakis. While this was going on, Janlynn and I sat and she produced her Tarokka cards and began to do a reading. If Madam Eva was evil and had given us bad information which we should not follow, what would Janlynn's third eye reveal if asked the same question. How would we defeat Strahd?
1. "This card tells of history. Knowledge of the ancient will help you understand your enemy." She turned the Enchanter card, which was the Three of Stars. “She saw an image of a young woman kneeling” + "A rose of great beauty, plucked too soon. The Master of the Marsh knows of whom the girl is".
2. “This card tells of a powerful force for good and protection, a holy symbol of great hope.” She turned the Hooded One, which is the Seven of Swords. “She felt extremely cold, like she was in a cold place. She could see a cowled statue of a man with his arms outstretched” + "A faceless god. He waits at the end of a long and winding road, deep in the mountains".
3. "This is a card of power and strength. It tells of a weapon of vengeance: a sword of Sunlight.” She turned the Miser, the Nine of Coins. “She could see herself passing through the wall of a fortress, then through fire, then through another wall into an area with a pile of treasure with a wooden spike atop it.” + "Look for a fortress within a fortress in a place hidden by fire".
4. “This card sheds light on one who will help you greatly in the battle against darkness.” She turned the Horseman. “She felt a great sense of trepidation because the one who will help them has a rotten soul.” + "A man of death named Silvo will forsake his dark lord to serve our cause. Beware his rotten soul".
5. “Your enemy is a creature of darkness, whose powers are beyond mortality. This card will lead you to him!” She turned the Executioner. “She could see Strahd standing behind a railing, mere feet away, staring into her soul. With that, she saw and felt herself falling from a great height.” + "Strahd is on a balcony of a tower looking down at a tortured land. He looks up turning his head to look at Janlynn smiling before she falls". Janlynn's shield flashed to life with brilliant light when her first vision was finished. She was momentarily overpowered and knocked to the floor by the visceral nature of the second vision.
We decided to try the same reading a second time to see if we would get a different result. Our doubts were dispelled as the exact same cards were revealed the second time, and her visions became somewhat clearer with more detail. I have amended the information from the second reading with the first reading above.
Based on this new information, honestly, I am still just as confused as ever with the strange road ahead of us. We only know of one marsh, and that is the lands around the ruined town of Berez, to the south along the Luna River. Perhaps we will find the master of the Marsh there. It was put forth that the beautiful young woman in the visions could be Gertruda, but no real evidence backs this up. And then there is the vision about Silvo!!! Her prophesy indicates that we must work with the betrayer, Silvo, to accomplish our goal. Not a single one of us was pleased to hear his name again.
Urwin was appropriately impressed with Janlynn's Tarokka reading skills, but Janlynn put her cards tentatively away after her two readings. I am worried about her after she swooned that last time. Seeing and feeling the power of the devil Strahd upon you is a powerful experience. Urwin indicated that he would not have the climbing gear together for a while yet, not that we could afford the cost at any rate. We decided to leave Vallaki and search the woods to the south of the town, as this is reportedly the direction that Izek Strazni heads in when he leaves on his daily sojourns.
We searched deep into the Svalich woods and came upon a few cottages, camps and hunting stands, but nothing that would serve as a hideout or prison for our friend Ireena. Our course took us somewhat south and west and we soon found ourselves come upon the Luna River and the marshy area surrounding it. We could see the odd rotten cottage slouching here and there, half submerged in the murky water, leaving the feeling of sadness and loneliness upon the place. We decided that we would travel a bit further south and see what we could discover.
Hecate, our ever present companion, flew down to let us know that the watcher lay ahead. Almost by rote we followed the raven through the mire to meet a new stranger. Soon we could see a light in the shadows of looming menhir's ahead. In a ring of ancient standing stones stood an pretty peasant-looking woman holding a rusted lantern. She seemed to be expecting us and Hecate was quite comfortable to alight upon her arm. She introduced herself as Muriel Vinshaw, a watcher and compatriot of the Danikov family.
We were eager to learn more about the land before us, and asked her for any information about the Master of the Marsh. She said the last Master of the Marsh would have been Burgomaster Ulrich, who was the last leader of Berez before it was consumed by water from the overflowing river. Ulrich was destroyed by Strahd some long years ago, but she could think of no one else who would fit that moniker. Ulric's manor still stands in the center of the ruined town.
She spoke of her mission to watch Berez and keep tabs on the Night Mother. She said that they would bring children here to the Night Mother and she would have them drink a strange drink and kept them in a goat pen next to her stump. Besides the Night Mother animating her stump with a Titanite Stone, apparently she would fly around in a giant skull as well. Muriel bore witness to the Night Mother moving with her animated stump south, taking her goats with her. She now resides somewhere south of Luna lake in a flooded forest.
Some of the Night Mother's minions still lurk in the area - lost ones as well as eerie living scarecrows who watch over the desolate landscape. She still sends these scarecrows to attack the winery from time to time. Muriel still holds her post here, waiting and watching for any signs of change or actions from the Night Mother and her minions. We decided that while we were here, we might as well investigate Ulric's manor house. Perhaps something there will lead us to another clue to defeating our enemy and escaping this doomed land.
We moved as stealthily as we could through the dry areas of the mire, avoiding a possible encounter with a scarecrow standing silent vigil over the area. We soon found ourselved before a most strange structure. The Burgomaster's Manor House was a roughly "L" shaped building of worked stone. Not a single window could be seen on the structure at all and the only entrance seemed to be at the inside corner of the "L". We circumvented the building and saw a penned in area with several stakes driven into the ground and what looked like a (garden area?). We proceeded with caution.....
A huge, scum dripping, tentacled orb began rising out of the pool. It had one massive milky central eye just above it's cavernous tooth filled maw and resting atop several tentacles writhing atop it were several smaller eyes looking in every direction. It was easily the most frightening thing I have ever encountered in my life, or even in my worst nightmares. I cast forth faerie fire upon the monstrosity even as I backed away back into the ballroom.
The monstrosity targeted Nim first, as he was the closest, or perhaps his size would make him a satisfying apetizer. The creature snatched him up into it's maw before anyone could react.
It jumped off the table and ran over to the door to quickly twist the gears of the locks into the proper position, opening the door. The large flesh golem slowly made it's way up the stairs, touching everything it came across as if seeing it for the first time. We quickly searched the basement for anything of value and discovered a magical bag which could hold alot of weight but still remained light.
We followed the golem around, trying to interract with it, but it barely noticed we were there in it's fascination with it's surroundings. Janlynn made a stark discovery when trying to have the golem interract with the doll - when the doll sits up it's eyes open and when it lays down it's eyes close. This was not the strange part however, as she noticed that the eyes of the doll were the same pale blue as the eyes that were looking out at us from behind the door. Janlynn quickly stuffed the doll into a sack and into a backpack. A golem as well as a haunted doll.... this is too much.
The golem went outside and we followed. Some thought that the golem might lead us to something important; some thought that the golem may be the body of the Master of the Marsh himself. I was dubious - the flesh golem just seemed like a newborn babe experiencing the world for the first time, he did not seem to be reliving any memories. After some discussionwe decided to go back in and investigate the house, leaving the golem outside and somewhat restrained.
Exploring further we came to a den area with nothing much of interest, but we did find a secret door leading to a hidden part of the manor. Investigating some other rooms, we eventually came to a dining room with a broad oaken table. Sitting around the table were an assortment of important looking ghostly people on ghost chairs. They could be heard communicating with each other, but it was as if we were hearing it from behind a thick door, the long distance between the living world and the dead. A stern looking ghost stood at the end of the table and we all thought that he must be the ghost of the Lord of this place.
I feel I must sheepily admit here that my curiosity got the better of me, such was my excitement to see of we could interract with these ghostly beings, I reached out to touch one of the ghostly guests and all of the ghosts turned to look directly at me as if noticing me for the first time. The apparition at the head of the table came charging at me shouting "You are not supposed to be here!". Just before crashing into me, the ghosts all vanished and we stood in an empy, silent room with it's battered great table.
Beyond that we came to a great ballroom with glass doors at the far end that open up into the pool area. Just as we were beginning to explore, more ghostly apparitions appeared before us. This time it was only two - a beautiful woman in a flowing black gown dancing with a younger version of the angry ghost from the dining room. We could hear them talking and she addressed him as Laslow. Their conversation made it sound as if this woman was his mistress and their affair was secret. Also, it seemed as if she was in possession of an army of undead which she was almost ready to use for some nefarious purpose. Just as quickly, they dissapeared back into the ether. We were told Ulric was the last lord of the marsh, so this ancient Lord must be a relative from the distant past.
Turning our attention to the glass doors leading to the pool area, we could see what Tetsuo had described before - a large scummy pool, some skeletal remains, and an air of tension about the area. As Nim moved forward towards the shiney object that was spied, I could not help but think about trout fishing in the rivers of my homeland, and how some would put a nice shiney lure on their hook to catch the best fish. The knot in my stomach told me that this could very well be the same thing. Unfortunately, my gut feeling turned out to be correct.
Finn's Journal #37 – Jan 29 – 2018
We approached the front door and tried to gain entrance. There was a lock, and Nim tried everything he could to pick the lock to no avail. I cast a knock spell and even that did not open this unopenable door. Our strongest members tried brute force as a last resort, doing no more than tiring their muscles. Strangely, ice-blue eyes could barely be seen peering out of the glass beside the door but the creature who the eyes belonged to did not interact with us in any way..Looking for an alternative, Tetsuo climbed a wall which revealed an outdoor pool area with some ancient skeletal remains and something shiny near the scummy pool. Ornate paned glass doors opened from the pool area into the building proper.
Just as we had decided to climb the wall and gain access that way, the front door opened of it's own accord, or perhaps at the behest of the blue eyed creature within. We quickly moved to the front door and entered into the foyer of the manor house. The entry area showed the sagging signs of age in the walls and floor. A somewhat macabre interior decorator must have had the idea that having two monstrous gargoyle statues flanking the steps leading deeper into the house was a good idea. Of course they would come to life and attack us as soon as we all entered, to no ones surprise.
Our brave warriors met the stoney skinned creatures with axe, staff and blade, while the rest moved back to
cast spells and use ranged attacks. Fey Blasts and Divine Power ripped into the creatures from Janlynn and I, while Akkiir and Uphir met them blow for blow and Tetsuo and Nim doashed in and out of the battle. Both monsters were given the killing blow from Uphir's enchanted great axe. Soon nothing remained of the gargoyles but piles of rubble. We ventured onward, deeper into the house.
Next we encountered a once comfortable sitting area with a fireplace and old rotted furniture. Another rather ugly, rotting doll was found sitting on a small couch andJanlynn decided she would pick it up to bring with us. Soon we found ourselves moving down into a wine cellar area, which had about half a foot of grimy water flooded upon the floor and it was easy to determine that the many cracks in the foundation were letting in the foul marsh water. There was a couple of empty wine racks, a mostly destroyed desk, several barrels, and a low table with a grey cloth draped over what obvioulsy looked like the form of a body.
Well, of course this room was in desperate need of investigation, so we all moved into the cellar and began to look around.
Of course, as soon as we all entered, the door slammed shut and locks could be heard clicking into place. On the back side of the door could be seen an apparatus with 4 gears which were winding down into position. The numbers by each lock made no sense and there was no way of knowing how to get through that obstacle. To top it off, the room started to fill up with a greenish gas. It appeared we had little time to figure out this puzzle and escape before being overcome by the gas.
Looking under the cloth on the table verified that there was a corpse there, but it was both in remarkable condition as well as some disrepair - it's hands and feet were missing, as well as the brain from it's skull. The barrels contained a mababre assortment of dismembered body parts consisting, of course, of various hands, feet, and brains - all with numbered tags attached to them! Our confusion about this lasted only a moment before a strange paper was found on the desk. This paper was a diagram of a human body, with hand written notes written in the margins. It seems as if someone were working out some sort of code.
Based on the evidence found on the paper we wracked our brains and figured out the patterns of the numbers. We rumaged through a disgusting assortment of brine and body parts, seeking out the numbers requested to solve the puzzle. The gas was continuing to rise, soon it would be over the heads of we shorter folks. Janlynn stitched the body parts onto their rightful place upon the corpse and we deduced that turning a crank on a strange device near the head of the corpse would charge energy into the thing. We cranked....and we watched....and the corpse sat up on the table - it was alive!
FINN'S JOURNAL
The rest of the group launched themselves at the thing, intent on destroying it before it could hurt any more of us. Everyone's attacks struck true with deadly effect, and once again Uphir's axe split right through the central eye of the monster, spilling forth it's milky goo as the thing crashed back into the pool, splashing scum all over the area. They had defeated it before it could do any serious injury to anyone! Nim was alright and took his much earned prize - a fine looking rapier, and the rest of us fished out the undead creature and took several of it's teeth as our prize. They were of considerable size and Uphir agreed that she could use her scrimshander skills to create beautiful works of art out of them.the gas.