FINN'S JOURNAL
Finn's Journal #44 – Mar 26 – 2018
Even though we all new that our quest was a strange one, we thought it best to get right to it. There was no way that the Abbot's plan with Vasilka would ever work, but he did promise us healing to rid us of our painful curses, so we were compelled. We left Vallaki and snuck our way back to Vallaki; through deep forests and over rushing rivers. Luckily we did not encounter any minions of Strahd and managed to sneak back into the town and get to our safehouse.
We quickly learned that not only had the Vallakovich's been over thrown, but a cult, worshipping the Devil, had taken over Vallaki. Were they there at the behest of the Wachter family? These cultists wore golden devil masks, are well armed, and have taken over all of the guard posts and patrols in the town. They still leave the south gate for the most part unguarded. Muriel's update from the Martikovs indicated that no more than thirty or so cultists had been seen in one place at one time, but there could be many more.
The Baron's mansion was our target location for the wedding dress we sought, so we sent out a scouting party comprised of our most talented and stealthy scouts: Tetsuo, Akkiir, and Nim. They learned that the mansion was under guard by Cultists; two guarded the front door and one the back door. There were also infrequent patrolling guards. Drapes covered all of the windows and light could only be seen illuminated on the south side of the house and one window on the west side.
While scouting, my friends saw an opportunity they could not refuse and it went from a scouting party to an official burglary. They noticed the rear guard going off into the bushes to relieve himself and took that opportunity to dash to the back door and enter the house. The room beyond was a modest kitchen with a cook going about his chores. He was initially startled, but soon seemed to realize that the Grim Order were not working with the Gold-Masks and willingly told them where the Baron and Baronness likely were in the building.
They decided to take the stairs from the kitchen to the second floor into a fancy gallery with a couple of door-filled hallways on one side and grand windows looking over the yard on the other.The great Lady of Fortune must have been watching over them, even through the gloom of this realm, for they investigated the first hallway and soon enough had their prize! They could hear low talking from a door at the end of the hall, but choosing not to investigate, they tried the second door which led to a changing room with the wedding dress on a mannequin.
They wrapped the dress in bedrolls and quietly made their escape through a second floor window. They used some of Tetsuo's mystic arts to create an area of silence so that the breaking of the glass would not alert the guards or occupants of the house. They managed to slip away stealthily without raising alarm, with their prize in hand. Soon they were on their way back to the safehouse, taking the most shadowed route they could.
While they were out burgling, we were having a strange encounter with our ghostly house guest. Once again, a ball came bouncing out of the corner of the room to land at our feet. I decided that I would try to interact with the ghost or whatever it was this time, in the hopes of learning something useful. I talked to it in soothing tones as if talking with a child and tossed the ball back and forth for some time with the invisible visitor.
When first realizing that the ghost was back Uphir leapt at the corner and dug her axe deep into the wall, trying to hit what she suspected was that cursed doll from Berez. No sound or sight of the entity was ever detected. There were no more new doll-sized footprints in that corner ar anything except for the ball which represented anything physical with this phenomenon. Was it the evil doll? Or perhaps something more or perhaps less diabolical? We were not able to learn more during this trip to Vallaki.
Wel left the town just as quickly as we could and snuck back out of the village, taking our normal circuitous path back to Krezk. At the Luna River crossing we encountered a large group of Lost Children and soon battle was begun. I climbed a nearby tree for a good vantage point while the fighters squared off to meet our enemies and Janlynn called forth her Spirit Guardians to defend us. Swirling and swooping transluscent angelic spirits wove about our immediate area, flashing in divine light when they came in contact with enemies, causing immeasurable damage to them all.
Finn's Journal #45 – Apr 02 – 2018
They charged into our group with ferocity, Uphir cutting through the creatures, their corpses stacking like cordwood before her. Tetsuo was weaving in and out of melee wielding his torches trying to burn the downed creatures. This had been our tactic while dealing with these creatures so far, but this time they were different; they had covered their bodies with mud, which was confounding the torches.
I cast my fey blasts in rapid succession from my tree perch and Janlynn kept moving towards her enemies, keeping up her spirit guardians' assault, helping to fell many of them. Nim fired his crossbow and then fell into melee with them. Akkiir danced like a blur before our enemies, setting them alight with the arcane green fire leaping from his blade.
The Lost Ones soon learned to stay back from Janlynn's powerful spell's effected area, moving far enough back to use their blow darts against us. Their line soon split into two, with one group moving towards my position. My friends had moved away from me to keep engaged with their group which was desperately trying to stay away from Janlynn. It was quickly dawning on everyone that the only fire that was destroying these creatures was Akkiir's green fire!
A peculiar game began with our group constantly knocking the creatures down, only for them to get up again to move and attack against us, except for those killed by Akkiir of course. This slowed the battle down and increased our danger greatly as we had to wait for Akkiir to move over and burn them. I was forced to make a tricky jump from my tree to one closer to my friends because the Lost Ones on my side had reached the bottom of my tree and I was finding it difficult to gain cover from their blow darts.
Soon, the last four enemies tried to flee but were pinned down and eventually burned by Akkiir. At one pointTetsuo and Uphir grappled one and carried it over to be burned by Akkiir's hand. I tried to time my attacks to hit them just as soon as they regenerated and tried to knock them right back down again. We had won the battle. Many of us were wounded and Janlynn healed us all with a massive and powerful healing miracle. We were soon on our way again.
When we were almost to Krezk we encountered a small group of mud-covered barbarians. Both parties took cover in the foliage and after a few tense moments we were able to parley an agreement to let each other pass un-molested. In less than an hour later we were entering the well defended gates of Krezk once again. We were anxious to get the dress to the Abbot, but wanted to visit the shrine first.
After praying to the Morninglord, it was decided that Janlynn would attempt to divine with the Tarokka cards whether the disc we spied in the Abbey was in fact the disc that was needed to activate the shrine to it's full power. Janlynn's cards revealed:
a. (History Card) She drew the Elementalist; the five of stars. She saw a vision of the past. She saw sisters of the Abbey uncivilized and wild - praying at the disc while being wracked in pain and anguish.
b. (Power card) She drew the Evoker; the six of starts. She had a vision of seeing a raven's eye view of the top of the Abbey. The towers of the Abbey are capped with onion shaped minarets and one of them, atop the north tower, flashed with a bright light.
c. (Protection Card) She drew the Abjurer; the four of stars. She could hear what sounded like a happy, elderly nun of the Abbey say in a teasing and playful voice "All is not yet revealed"
d. (Ally card) She drew "The Innocent". She could see the hunched over silhouette of Cloven Belview playing his instrument. He is very good.
e. (Location card) She drew "The Seer". Nothing was revealed to her. Prophesy works in mysterious ways; both helpful and confounding each in turn.
We decided to head up the winding cliff-path to the Abbey, still unsure how we would convince the Abbot to give us the disc we needed for the shrine. Our second visit was similar to our first, we were greeted at the gate by Otto and Zigfrek and we tried to engage with them friendily. I tried to lure Zigfrek out of her shyness, by offering to let her examine the wedding dress, but she was resolute in her avoidance of close interaction.
We were taken to the north tower once again. I couldn't help but wonder what mysteries could be hidden within the other tower. Would it be a mad mans workshop, filled with the various pieces of human and animal flesh required to create Vasilka, or perhaps to tinker with the physical aspects of the Belview clan? I decided it was best not to know, my imagination was much too creative for such speculations. We were brought through the Foyer into the main hall and once again the Abbot was working closely with Vasilka at the dining table.
The wedding dress was presented to the Abbot and he seemed to see the dress as acceptable, though his voice betrayed no emotion or indication if he was particularly pleased with any aspect of the dress. When asked again about the name Visilli Van Holts, he revealed that it was a name Strahd used sometimes when walking among the people of the land.
We had not come to any conclusion as to how we would handle the topic of the disc, so I decided that we should just be honest and forthcoming with the Abbot. After all, wasn't he some sort of celestial being from the heavens? I told him everything; how we needed the disc and how it would help to bring more power of the Morninglord into the land. I framed every word with words which promoted our devotion to the Moringlord and genuine desire to increase his power int h is dark land. We also spoke some of the Keeper's of the Feather and the knowledge we had about the beacon at Arganvosthold and it's purpose.
The Abbot decided that he would help us. He opened up a secret compartment behind the golden disc. On the back of the disc was a large crystal lens and insiade the niche was a fancy decanter. We all went immediately down to the shrine and he offered the lens to Janlynn to place into the outstretched arms of the statue. Nothing happened immediately. We stayed at the shrine all night long, waiting for the dawn.
As soon as the first light of morning touched the tops of the minarets of the Abbey, bright beams shot forth from them and struck the center of the lens. The entire lens lit up with strong golden morning light and directed this light into the glittering pool. A feeling of warmth rushed over us all as the light glittering in the pool grew tenfold in power and brightness. It felt as if the morninglord truly was gracing us with his presence.
A feeling of success came over our group. Uphir was especially vocal about something Finally working out as we hoped. The commotion and spectacle soon began drawing a crowd. We drank from the pool and our Hag curse was finally lifted. Our painful afflictions drained away with a warm release and lightening of our troubled souls. The light of the Morninglord was finally able to push back the darkness that had fallen upon us all. The villagers were encouraged to partake of the holy water of the pool and receive blessings of the Moringlord from Janlynn. A new bastion of power for the Morninglord had emerged in this twisted place, and it felt good to have had a hand in making that happen.
Finn's Journal #46 – Apr 09 – 2018
We celebrated with each other and the community while the pool gave off its intense power. After a time the Abbot took down the disc and returned to the Abbey, leaving behind the decanter of healing for the villager's to make use of. Once we were alone, we discussed our options for our next course of action. We decided, after learning that we still had over a month before the Night Mother could create another coven of Mere Hags, that Arganvosthold would be our next adventure. Our goal was to activate the beacon and hopefully gather some treasures that would help us in the fight against Strahd.
We made preparations to leave and as we were nearing the only gate out of the village a large conspiracy of ravens near the gate started squawking and flying about in panic. We learned from Muriel that a Dark Rider approached! Tetsuo quickly called upon his shadow powers and beckoned us to follow him into the trees to hide. This was originally a good idea as we wove deep into the trees and behind some cottages, but soon this proved futile.
A swarm of common bats came pouring past the top of the walls and into the town. It only took them moments to circle around and find our location and begin to attack. Hundreds of bats dove upon our position clawing and biting any exposed flesh available. We tried, but fighting them off was proving to be futile. It was decided that we would make a run for the nearest guard tower on the wall for shelter from the bats and to hopefully narrow down the ways they could attack us.
We ran for all we were worth and, gaining the base of the wall, climbed the narrow ladder up to the parapet leading to the tower. We saw the Dark Rider just entering the gates of the town as we climbed. We fought the swarming bats all the way and even after we got into the tower dozens followed us in, and soon were pouring in through the high, narrow arrow slits. We fought to try and do as much damage to the bats, but what helped finish this battle was Janlynn once again calling forth the power of Lathander in the form of her spirit guardians. The rabid, swarming bats kept coming at us, only to be obliterated. Soon the fight was over and the floor, parapet and ground outside were flooded with the corpses of bats.
Before we could even catch a breath, the Dark Rider was approaching our tower. Akkiir bravely stepped out upon the parapet to defend our position. As the rider approached, Akkiir cast forth a chill touch spell, it's glowing, clawed form raking up the side of the dark creature. Nim rushed out past Akkiir further down the wall and fired his crossbow at the rider. The rider backed away to be out of the range of the Spirit Guardians, planted his lances into the ground, and in one fluid motion he drew a black bow and fired rapid shots up at Akkiir and Nim, hitting Nim with a non-fatal wound.
I fired my fey bolts and struck the rider, momentarily knocking him off his horse and sending him flying backwards onto the ground. Everyone else continued to attack him with ranged attacks and spells. We had the advantage of range and higher position. We would not let him close to melee if at all possible. His black horse moved to him and he re-mounted as his horse began levitating upon a platform of roiling mists to land upon the far end of the parapet. This ancient knight of death kept revealing new surprises to us.
Tetsuo had to shadow step a couple of times before he could get into position to surprise attack his mount from behind, then dash back out of reach. Uphir verily growled as she pushed past Akkiir to rush out along the parapet to meet the Rider, axe raised above her head for a mighty strike. Akkiir struck again with his Chill Touch while I sent Fey Bolt after Bolt at our enemy, failing to dislodge him from his horse this time. Nim dashed in and struck a mighty Divine Smite which rocked the dark rider even as Janlynn's bolt of pure sunlight seared through the air atop the parapet to strike the rider in the chest so hard and brightly that he disappeared in the flash.
The Morninglord surely works in mysterious ways, as once again Janlynn's powerful blast had a strange effect. The rider was indeed struck mightily but he was not destroyed; he and Janlynn switched places in that flash of light. Now she was at the other end of the parapet and the rider was inside the tower - with me! Soon the horse turned ethereal and appeared in the tower next to the Riser.
There was only the faintest sense that the rider may have been momentarily confused by this but then he turned his cowled head and looked down upon my face; I felt my legs turn to wriggling eels under the decaying gaze of the endless blackness within that hood. He casually swung his cursed sword at me and I felt the freezing burn of the black metel rend flesh and bone. It had a strange oozing feeling that I attributed to Black Banyan poison entering my veins. Then all was dark for a moment or two.
Akkiir attacked expertly with his green flame blade as Nim and Tetsuo rushed into the tower and back again; Tetsuo attacking the horse but having no effect as it was still mostly in the ethereal plane. Soon Uphir was back in the tower attacking as well. The attacks seemed to be wearing the Dark Rider down, as at one point he went down to one knee under the combined assault. Janlynn cast a powerful healing spell and I was revived and well healed, as were all the rest of the group.
Just when we thought that we would defeat this most evil of enemies, he re-mounted his now solidified horse and then both he and his mount turned ghostly translucent and entered the Ethereal again. We noticed that as he stayed in this state he seemed to be healing himself! We had to make our escape now while we could. We momentarily thought to head up to the Abbey and solicit the help of the Abbot, but Muriel swooped in and told us to follow her down the wall and out into the dark Svalich woods. We did not waste time deciding another course and we follower her as fast as we could.
Finn's Journal #47 – Apr 16 – 2018
There was a sense that the Dark Rider was following us in the Ethereal plane, but soon enough we were convinced that we had lost him in the thickest part of the woods. Thank the Morninglord we escaped, for I cannot conceive how we would defeat an enemy who can retreat into the ghost realm to heal whenever we wound him gravely enough. Our health and healing will run out long before he would likely exhaust that particular trick.
We continued on our journey to Arganvosthold, determined to leave Krezk and the insurmountable obstacle of the Dark Rider as far behind us as we could. With the aid of Janlynn's miraculous Water Walking spell we easily passed our first obstacle and forded the Raven River. We were moving as quickly as we could while still trying to be quiet and hopefully slip past any dangers that lay ahead. I think most of us were thinking of our second encounter and defeat at the hands of a Dark Rider and spoke very little along the way.
Shortly after the river crossing, about an hour into our trip, we encountered a group of Druids and strange, large tree beings. Both parties hunkered down in the foliage for defense and a silence fell upon the forest. What would the Druids do? We found out soon enough as one of the mud covered, ugly humans raised himself up and started gesturing. Nim called out and nothing but gibberish came back. This was the first time a group of Druids that we encountered did not immediately try to destroy us. Nim moved forward to parley with the leader of the other group. They met in the no-man's land between our two tense groups.
The lead Druid met Nim and there was no getting around the fact that neither could understand the language of the other, but certain messages are universal. The Druid was anxiously indicating that he wanted our group to head north of their position. He did not want us going past him, or to the south. This definitely peaked our interest and concern - what could they be doing that they felt they should steer us clear of it rather than try to kill us? Nim decided to acquiesce and led us north. This would not take us out of our way too badly, and after skirting them, we would just go back to our original course.
Sometime later, still quietly muttering amongst ourselves about the strange behavior of the Druids, we came upon the sad sight of the remains of three humans; two adults and a small child held between them. There was not much left but skeletal remains and some rotten remains of clothing. Janlynn muttered some words of Lathander upon the scene and we continued on. There was nothing we could do for those unfortunate souls now.
Our next chance encounter in the dense Svalich Woods would truly test our mettle. We were skirting the edge of a steep rocky hill and Nim spotted some men in the woods around the corner. They were fairly well dressed with no apparent weapons. Before Nim could even tell us what he saw and perhaps discuss how to handle them, Uphir stepped heavily upon a broken pile of downed tree branches and things took a decisive turn. The four individuals dropped low and searched for the source of the sound. Soon they were tearing through the forest in a run directly towards our group.
We all moved to hide behind the nearest trees, not knowing exactly what was coming. Nim hid so well they rushed right past him at the head of the party in the scout position. Just as they were almost upon all of our hiding spots, Nim could be heard hissing "Vampires!" This was enough for us to spring into action, but I think all of us were somewhat uncertain of how the battle would go as we had not fought actual vampires before.
Akkiir and Uphir rushed forward to meet them in close combat, while Nim moved back from his hiding position to help. I cast a Faerie Fire upon the group of them and managed to outline two of them in green auras. As they came closer, Janlynn called forth the majesty of Lathander, thrusting her shield forth and calling upon ancient words of power, she sent two of the foul creatures backwards as if hit with the force of a giant. Soon they were fleeing before her might away into the forest.
This began the desperate turbulence of battle. Focusing attacks on one of the remaining melee vampires, it soon fell before the onslaught. The vampires preferred attack is to launch themselves hungrily upon their enemies using their wiry bodies to grapple them as their fanged maws seek to sink into bare flesh. Akkiir used his Chill Touch on one of the fleeing vampires, breaking the powerful hold that Janlynn held over it. It turned to rejoin the battle. Nim ran forward to engage that one while Tetsuo used his shadow step and amazing speed to quickly overtake the other fleeing vampire, also breaking its turning effect.
I fired my Fey blasts at any target I saw, helping where I could. Uphir finished off the remaining vampire attacking our main group while Nim and Akkiir fought hard against the first fleeing vampire. Tetsuo battled the other fleeing vampire alone, using his agility to try and stay out of its grasp. Unfortunatley, Tetsuo found himself captured in the grasp of his opponent and suffered a vicious vampire bite. He escaped the grapple and used his Shadow Step to retreat.
Uphir, and Janlynn finished off their remaining opponent at almost the same time as Nim and Akkiir slew theirs. The vampire in front of Tetsuo seems to realize just how badly the battle is going and flees for all he is worth east through the forest. Both Tetsuo and Nim share the same look and soon are both chasing after the undead creature through the twisting trees. Uphir rushes to follow but does not have the same uncanny speed that her two comrades do. She will arrive late to that battle. Janlynn and I work on burning the remains of the vampires - just in case!
Before long Nim and Tetsuo run down the last Vampire and use their masterful agility and attacks to both weave in and out, attacking the creature with vicious strikes. The vampire managed to get a solid hit with its uncannily sharp clawed hands on Nim, but that was the last surge of a defeated creature. Soon it lay fallen before them. Tetsuo, perhaps inspired by Ulwin and his speech about the Grim Order, called for its head to be cut from its body while he carved the end of one of his torches into a spike. He set the body alight and then rammed the sharpened end through the creature's chest, spiking it to the ground.
After the battle, all of the vampire bodies were watched to make sure they were suitably destroyed and were not regenerating; as so many creatures in this infernal place do. We were not terribly wounded over all, but Tetsuo, Nim and Uphhir all felt the weakening effects of being bitten by vampires. Janlynn seemed fairly certain that they could be healed of these afflictions by the sacred shrine in Krezk.
We traveled a little farther east to get away from that area in case there would be reinforcements for the vampires. We decided to take a short rest and Akkiir created the most unique construct I had ever seen. He had created a completely transparent dome, which we could all take shelter from the rain under. He called it "Leomund's Tiny Hut". He even mentioned that it was indestructible. I can see many uses for such a handy spell. We rested well under the dome; I sang some songs of battles won to help us celebrate our victory over our first vampires. It was mesmerizing to watch the rain running in rivulets across the surface of the dome with not a bit of it entering our magnificent sanctuary.
Soon enough we were on our way again and found ourselves skirting the northern boundary of the steep mountains and the Svalich woods. Mount Ghakis could be seen looking imposing far, far above. We crossed the track that led to the pass through the mountains and wondered what adventures we would encounter there, for surely one of our many quests would take us in that direction at some point. As we got closer to Arganvosthold we asked Muriel to be our advanced scout and to assess the surroundings in the next mile or so ahead of us. When she returned she mentioned a group of Siren Bats and their Lost Children riders ahead, so she led us in a path to avoid them.
As soon as we were free of that threat another literally snuck up on us. A group of Shadow Mastiffs had been following us, blending into the shadows, and it was only Nim's sharp eyes that noticed them as he looked back upon us from his scouting position and he cried out just in time. There was a flurry of activity as our group leapt into action. Uphir and Nim rushed to the rear of our group to engage them in melee while Janlynn activated her ever useful Spirit Guardians spell to defend us all.
Akkiir revealed a new talent he had developed and cast an exploding ball of fire behind us and into the midst of the creatures. The heat from the blast washed over us all and through the light of the fire many Mastiffs were revealed among the shadows. Not to be outdone, I used a trick that I had been working on and cast a Shatter spell into the center of their pack. Trees were ripped asunder and broken branches flew all about as the thunderous force of my spell rocked through their entire area.
We had softened them up with our spells and now it was time to receive their charge. Unfortunately, Janlynn suffered a vicious bite from one of the Mastiffs.
Finn's Journal #47 – Apr 16 – 2018 (Crib Notes)
**STATUS** Tetsuo is wounded 12 hp from vampire fight (7 of which have reduced his max hp due to necrotic damage). He has used 3 Ki points. He has lost 2 darts.
FINN'S JOURNAL
[ Insert pic - Tree Creature ]