FINN'S JOURNAL
Finn's Journal #41 – Feb 26 – 2018
I came to my senses into a waking nightmare. This was my nightmare curse! The Dark Rider had dragged me to my doom in the dungeons beneath Castle Ravenloft. I remember screaming my voice harsh in terror. After a few mind-numbing moments of the purest of fear, I heard Nim's reassuring voice from my side, and slowly I came back to the present. My left arm and shoulder felt like they were being pulled apart and my feet were emerged in cold water. The area was all in darkness, but my gnomish sight showed that I was in fact in a dank, water filled cell in a dungeon. Nim was chained up beside me against the wall of the cell, both of us dangling painfully by one arm.
Soon others began to come to and what encouragement as could be mustered was spread amongst the troupe. All of my friends had survived the assault of the Dark Rider and had been taken prisoner. As terrifying as the situation I felt happy that none of my friends were killed. Where there is such luck, there is always room for hope. No matter what the dark master of this land had in store for us, surely we would prevail.
Only a couple of us could see in the dark, but we were all able to determine most of the situation at hand. The cold, dank and murky water was about five feet deep, and most were chained chest deep in water. Nim and I, supposedly because of our smaller stature, were chained much higher on the wall. The others were dispersed among the large dungeon in various barred cells. All of us were stripped down to our skivvies and severely wounded. Due to the regenerating power of my fey magic, I was able to gain access to minor healing spells throughout the next hours to fully heal myself and Nim.
In my fevered recurring nightmare, a vicious werewolf occupied the cell across from me, eventually jumping out and asking me to swear to serve him, just before I slip beneath the water and drown. In this reality, nothing could be seen in the darkness of the cell across from our cell, except for a faint glow coming from that cell, under the water. It was obviously some sort of magic and would have to be investigated when we escaped our bonds.
As the hours turned into days, try as we might to keep our spirits up, we all became despondent eventually. For five days we had no sleep, no food and barely any water to slake our thirst. The water was of the foulest nature, but catching drips from the ceiling into our parched mouths barely kept us alive. It was days of living through a haze of reality and tortured fantasy. One by one we became silent and in our own ways prepared to meet the agonizing death of starvation that awaited us. There would be no one to come and our skeletal forms would remain here, chained in our cells, for centuries to come. Only sporadically would a strained voice call out to see who was still alive, and those voices became less as time went on as there was just no strength to put forth the effort, nor enough spit to make the sounds necessary.
As we slumped there awaiting our certain fate, the creaky iron door leading into the dungeon swung slowly open and a massive jailor came lumbering in, glancing first into my cell. Nim and I pretended we were not conscious and he moved on. He soon came to Akkiir and Tetsuo's cell and noticed that Tetsuo was still conscious. He opened the mostly stuck, rusty door with a key and moved in to begin unshackling Tetsuo. Both of these beaten and broken heroes lept into action and fought with everything they had. Akkiir swung his free legs up and around the giant Jailor's neck, trying to strangle the life out of him as Tetsuo drove his powerful legs into the creature over and over again. It was a valiant effort and the Jailor seemed to have been taken by surprise and unsure how to handle it, but soon enough he escaped Akkiir's grasp and brutally pummeled both of them into un-consciousness once again.
(Uphir taunted the Jailor and blasted him with a stream of her acid dragon breath?) The Jailor soon went looking for easier prey and came back to our cell. I was desperately anxious for my beaten comrades and was past pretending I was asleep. He came forth barely giving Nim or I any serious concern for attack and unshackled me, dragging me along in the water behind him. My mind was filled with visions of torture as I desperately treaded water, spitting out the murky water when it threatened to drown me.
I was unceremoniously brought forth into a torture chamber of sorts, it too being half submerged in water. Various machines and devices lay about the room and I was left to try and determine their horrible applications on my own. Sitting upon a raised balcony, looking very severe, stood a handsome, richly appointed man with an aura of supreme authority. In a very thick Barovian accent, the devil asked "Tell me why I should not just leave you in that cell to die and rot?" I tried with all desperation to be diplomatic with him. I extolled all of the platitudes I thought were appropriate and tried to tell him that perhaps we could be of some use to him, if only he would allow me to talk to my friends. I was hoping to buy time, but he seemed to see right through me and commanded I be brought back to my cell.
Next, the Jailor came for Uphir, who was taunting him to take her next. Uphir fought against her instincts, still being severely wounded from her ordeal. She trudged through the water behind the Jailor and was brought before the Devil Strahd. The ancient Vampyr asked the same question of Uphir and she replied with as much strength and venom as she could that she would not play his games and threatened to destroy him with her bare hands. She betrayed no fear and left no doubt that she would defeat him. She was sent back to her doom in the watery cells.
Akkiir was conscious once again and begged the Jailor to take him to see Strahd, he was not afraid of him and he had a message he wanted to give him. The Jailor was not interested in him in the least. He returned Uphir, locking her tight into her manacles once again, and unlocked Janlynn. Janlynn looked like she had suffered much these past days, yet there was a certain fire in her eyes and determination in her frown. She was dragged off to meet the master of this domain.
The same question was asked of Janlynn and her message to Strahd was straightforward and filled with the certainty of her faith. She stared the monster directly in the face and swore by Lathander; the Morning Lord; the Dawnbringer, that She would be the one to destroy him and free this land. She was absolutely fearless and spoke with the steady voice of certainty and prophesy. Strahd sneered and sent her back to her cell to rot with the rest of us. We once again settled in to our fate, and hoped the Jailor would give us another opportunity to resist this oppression and possibly escape.
With the excitement over, we became somewhat subdued once again. We were still exhausted and starving and sometime later we found ourselves in a quiet gloom. The quiet was broken by the familiar squawk of our raven friend Hecate. In her talons she carried snelb and in her beak a small leather bag containing lock picks! She flew in through the bars in the door and then into our cell, dropping the bag into Nims hand.
Nim wasted no time picking the locks on all of our manacles and cell doors and soon all were assembled in the water of the dungeon. For our safety Nim and I were given support from our friends so that we would not fall beneath the water. All were desperate to escape and both Snelb and Hecate were worried about tarrying too long. Healing was needed and I gave what small amount I could and, using my magic, I created a temporary holy symbol for Janlynn to use so that she could cast a more powerful heal upon herself and her friends.
My curiosity would not allow me to leave without seeing what was glowing beneath the water of the opposing cell. Nim picked the lock and we quickly went in to investigate. What was pulled from beneath the water was a glowing short sword! The sword was somewhat sentient and chose its wielder and was claimed by Akkiir. We wasted no further time and left the dungeon with haste. Snelb and Hecate were ahead and Nim communicated with Snelb through telepathy and he guided us forward.
Even with the light from the magical sword, unfortunately we ran into some magical trap that was upon the floor of the hallway, and if you stepped upon certain spots you would be magically teleported back to a random cell. Akkiir was in the lead and had this happen to him two or three times. We could see into the torture chamber that the giant Jailor stood in there and we would need to get through him and up onto the balcony if we were to escape.
We made our way into the room to do battle. The Jailor summoned forth half a dozen zombies from beneath the foul water. For some strange reason none of these zombies attacked any of our group during the battle. I'll call that strange luck, but I'll take it. As the Jailor sloshed across the room I took it as my mission to keep blasting him back with my fey bolts. This worked fairly well as our troupe formed up in the room to fight the creature.
Nim heard the muffled cry of another prisoner behind the door to another set of cells. He went to investigate and pick the lock on the door. Meanwhile it turned out that Akkiir's last teleport brought him into the other set of dungeon cells with the other prisoner. Between the two of them, Nim and Akkiir managed to rescue the prisoner and rejoin the group.
Tetsuo rushed through the room, past the zombies and leapt up to the balcony. His mission was to dig through the gear and weapons that were up on the balcony to pass out to his fellows. Snelb had informed us that the gear was there. First Tetsuo lit some torches so that those who could not see in the dark could see to do battle with the Jailor.
Uphir noticed that the Jailor held her axe and she rushed forward as fast as she could, grabbing the magic glowing short sword as she went. As I kept blasting our enemy back, Uphir moved into position. The Jailor attacked first, hefting Uphir's mighty axe for a great chop but as he was about to swing, spiky thorns erupted from the handle and the creature dropped her axe. Uphir stepped forth and with one smooth motion pierced the giant Jailor straight through the neck. He dropped instantly dead from Uphir's precise blow.
Uphir reclaimed her prized weapon from the water and all gathered together on the balcony to dress and re-equip themselves for the escape ahead of them. All of our gear was there; except for the Book of Strahd and the queer Titanite stone we had won from the Ruins of Berez. We turned to the only door on the balcony and with our heels dragging, went forth into the strange room beyond.
Finn's Journal #42 – Mar 5 – 2018
The room beyond the torture room was as fascinating as it was strange. The center of the chamber was occupied by a bright burning brazier with magical heat-less fire. Encircling the brazier was seven cup-like depressions around its rim, each containing a colored gem. Set into alcoves, staged across the room from each other, stood statues of two of the terrifying Black Riders that haunt my dreams, with lances poised to charge through the center of the chamber, skewering those stupid enough to step the wrong way in this ancient place. Above the brazier was a large hourglass with magic writing faintly glowing on its underside. The Inscription read:
Violet leads to the mountain spire
Orange to the castle's peak
Red if lore is what you seek
Green to where the coffins hide
Indigo to the master's bride
Blue to ancient magic's womb
Yellow to the Master's tomb
With very little time to take a proper moment to think of what to do, the green stone was thrown into the brazier and it opened up a glowing portal atop the brazier. We wasted no time stepping through to whatever fate awaited us. It was a strange feeling, stepping through an arcane portal which traverses vast distances with a single step. A wave of vertigo washed through the group and with a flash, we were in the attic storage room of the Coffin-maker's shop. The mysterious crates were still stored within.
We made our way downstairs as quietly as we could, not sure exactly what we could be walking into. There was no sign of Henrik Van Der Voort anywhere within the shop and soon we found our way to the door leading to the yard. Several ravens were present and we were told that the Martikovs had set up a safe house for us with desperately needed beds and food for our exhausted and starving troupe.
We secretly wound our way through the shadows of the town to a specific home, not far from the south gate. We gorged on succulent wolf meat and the ever present borscht until we were in danger of bursting. We slaked our thirst on water and wine and collapsed one and all onto our cots as if they were the most opulent beds we had ever lain upon. Muriel was there to guard us while we slept like the dead - our first decent sleep in five days.
Muriel would be our main point of contact now instead of Hecate. As for Snelb, he decided that he had had enough of battles and facing danger with our rather unconventional traveling troupe. He felt that he could serve better with the Martikov's than with us, so he bid farewell to Nim and the rest of us. Even Uphir was beginning to concede, after his rescue of us in the dungeons, that Snelb may have had some redeeming qualities.
Over the next couple of days we brought Muriel up to speed on what happened in Berez and our tortured stay in Strahd's dungeons. We learned many things from Muriel within that time as well. She spoke in detail about her and the Martikovs belonging to an ancient order - The Keepers of the Feather. Each of the members of this secretive group were were-ravens. This group stayed in the shadows, acting as a spy network, working with another faction in Barovia against Strahd.
The Grim Order were fighters and warriors who stood against Strahd, having long ago been wiped out by Strahd's forces in the years before strahd claimed his mantle as the Vampyr Devil of Barovia. The Grim Order were part of the knights who were at Arganvostholdt. Their leader was Lord Arganvost, who was a powerful silver dragon. Muriel implied that there were other members of the Grim Order that may still exist outside of Barovia, as the order predates Strahd sealing in Barovia behind his cursed wall of mists.
Muriel spoke of two powerful sites in the land that were currently not working at full power. There was a beacon at Arganvostholdt that, if lit, would bring an increase in the power of good over evil in the land. The other was the holy shrine at the pool in Krezk, which could be activated to further spread its light against the darkness of the land. We had noticed on our previous trip to Krezk that the statue in the gazebo seemed to be missing something, a disc perhaps? Speaking of Krezk and the mountain Abbey above, we learned that the Abbot was taking care of an insane deformed family there.
We learned that the Keeper's had located the cabin in which they suspected Izek Strazni had been holding Ireena. Neither she nor Izek could be found there, but it looked like the place had been besiegned in a great battle and the interior and exterior of the cabin was awash in blood. They suspect that Izek is likely dead, as he had not returned to Vallaki since. It definitely appeared to us that Strahd had finally won and gained his prize - Ireena was now truly lost to us.
Muriel told us that since leaving Berez, Sir Greggor of the Grim Order, our wandering friend golem, has taken up residence within the manor house after having killed all of the scarecrows and lost ones in the area. We learned that there were five Dark Riders, of which, the leader wears a great helm adorned with antlers. They were the former men-at-arms of Strahd who stood with him when the rest of his forces rose against him after he murdered his brother Sergei, and Tatyana had flung herself to her doom. They became his staunch lieutenants and serve him even now, in un-death.
After a day or so of rest, Ulwin presented our group with a ceremony, pledging our group as one of the Grim Order. The creed of the Order was to "Bring Light Unto Darkness" and their symbol was a burning torch sharpened into a stake at the butt end, outlined in white on a black field. Ulwin began the initiation into the Grim Order by taking a prepared scroll and setting it upon the table with a sharpened, unlit torch, a vial of holy water, a candle and sealing wax.
He gazed solemnly upon our group and asked who spoke for those gathered here and Nim said that he did. He locked eyes with us each in turn and with a severe voice asked if we willingly offered to bring light unto the darkness and we all replied that we did. He then said "Take this Grim Order; bring light unto darkness while you might. Save those you can, for the rest; give them mercy." He then poured the vial of holy water on the sharpened end of the unlit torch, lights the torch and hands it to Nim. He then added his seal to the document identifying us by group only, as members of the Grim Order.
Janlynn took some time to do a Tarokka reading, once again asking the same question. Now that we had lost the Book of Strahd, we needed new direction. The cards fell exactly the same except for the first draw; the card that speaks of history and knowledge of the ancient. Janlynn received her visions and learned some new information. "The Faceless God is in the Temple" and "A woman hangs above a roaring fire. Find her and you will find the treasure."
We discussed the possibility of finding a weapon at Arganvolstholt and talked some about the missing device that will be needed to activate the powers of the shrine. We talked about the mountains and the faceless god, and the strange dusk elf Kasimir Velikov. Kasimir is an elven name and Velikov is Vistani.
We had a strange encounter with a ghostly house guest while recovering. From the shadows of a corner of the house, a ball came bouncing out. Nothing could be seen in the shadows and though I wanted to pick up the ball and investigate, some in the group felt it best if the ball were left alone. Careful investigation of the corner revealed tiny footprints in the dust of the corner. All thoughts immediately went to the evil doll from the house of Ulric, in Berez. No one wanted to think that we were being haunted by that murderous construct.
Finn's Journal #43 – Mar 12 – 2018
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.
FINN'S JOURNAL
