FINN'S JOURNAL
Finn's Journal #12 – July 31 – 2017
Entry #11 - Day 7
We spent that night enjoying the company of the Vistani (Except for Uphir, whose distain for the Vistani was hard to conceal - for their part, they did not seem to mind), singing songs, dancing and entertaining each other. Squeakers and I put on one of our mainstay performances - The rodent and the knave. That one never fails to produce ample laughter. Tetsuo, in a very rare show of expression, put on an inspired performance of his martial hand to hand skills. To me it seemed a dance of sorts, but with a very deep meaning somehow. It is hard for even a bard to explain. I was very impressed.
We learned some very important things from Eva and her Vistani. I feel certain that her display of prognostication was a demonstration of true ability. The clues that she has laid bare for us are not exactly fully understood, but in time I feel we will understand them. She could not shed very much light on the history of how or why Strahd cursed the people of Barovia and this land. We learned that the Windmill in one of her readings is likely the one that can be found near the road, between mount Gackus and Lake Zarovich, as we travel west, but it is also the haunting ground for a group of Night Hags. She suggested that these creatures are likely behind the horrible nightmares we are suffering from.
She spoke of the adventurers who came about a year ago. A powerful wizard who rallied many Barovians behind him and marched against Ravenloft. When it came to confrontation the mob of villagers fled and there was a great magic battle between Strahd and this wizard. Lightning and fire rained down from the mountain. After a lengthy duel, the wizard was sundered and thrown from the heights of the mountain.
Most surprisingly we learned that our dear Janlynn likely somehow has some Vistani blood in her. The strange deck of cards that she was given from Tora were in fact Tarokka cards and Janlynn had received a strange vision from one of these cards. She asked Madame Eva to teach her how to read the cards and last night we were able to have Janlynn read the cards for us. We asked about how to help Gertruda. She was a natural. We have our very own Seer! I' am so proud!
The cards were dealt out as they were before with the cards placed in the same manner. I will not replicate the diagram again, but I will write of her prophesying numbered as before. Please forgive my memory here as I am writing this the next day and had imbibed far too much wine last night.
1. The first card shows history. The Shepherd was drawn. This reveals the truth of our meeting with Mary, and her sharing with us the plight of Gertruda.
2. "This is the protection card. The Charlatan was drawn. Gertruda is being deceived by someone and revealing this truth to her will aid her.
3. This is the power card. The Elementalist was drawn. Janlynn saw a small castle looking through amber in an inderground cavern.
4. This card reveals where help may be found in this matter. The Executioner was drawn. Janlynn received no reading from this card. I am unsure if this is a good or bad thing.
5. This card gives clues as to the main obstacle or enemy ahead for us. The Dark Lord was drawn. Janlynn immediately received a vision of who she knew to be the Devil Strahd. He seemed to turn and look directly at her. She was shocked and dropped this card, visibly shaken.
Heading off the next day at our usual late start (The nightmares resumed as expected) we followed the road west into the rugged terrain of the mountains as we ascended about the river to a huge stone bridge a thousand feet up. A view like this should be incredible, but all was shrouded in the usual clinging gray mist.
Beyond and out of reach was a waterfall. Normally such natural wonders fill my heart with joy, but I felt something distinctly sinister about it. We speculated that it would be quite convenient if there were a secret tunnel hidden behind that rushing curtain of water - leading directly to one of our goals - but no way to test that flight of fancy.
Following the road further west and up, the trees and foliage became denser as we entered a deeply forested rocky terrain. The trail continued unfailingly onward and we followed it with as much gusto as we could muster. Dark mountains, twisted trees and the heaviness of prophesy hung over us like a cloud. Even I was unable to shake the mood when we eventually came to a crossing in the road. Right there at the branching of the road sat a beautifully detailed black carriage, with two fine black horses at the head.
No driver could be seen and as we tentatively approached, the door to the carriage swung open with the sure intent of offering us (willing us; demanding us!) to experience the comforts within. Inspecting as close as we dared, we confirmed that there was nothing in the cab of the carriage either. What force opened the door? The will of the devil, no doubt.
This was the personal carriage of the vampyr Strahd von Zarovich, Overlord of Ravenloft and all the lands of Barovia. It was quite apparent that he knew we were in the mountains and that this was his offer to meet him at castle Ravenloft - which of course, this second trail led to. There was very little debate as we all cautiously moved on following the westward track.
Some time later we began to hear the baying of wolves and began to see a few of them gather on ledges in the cliffs above us. With our nerves frayed to the limit, and the wolf sightings becoming more frequent, we saw a small fire just off the road ahead in the trees with a dark figure beside it. Standing upon the roadway were a few very large and malicious looking wolves. Could this be Skennis, and what would that mean for our troupe?
From a distance we announced ourselved and engaged in conversation with the stranger. It was Skinnis and Uphir stepped forward to be the one to dialogue with him as she had spoken to him at length previously at the Durst's barn. Skennis would not allow the Burgomeister's children to pass - he demanded that they return to Barovia. He wanted to make us a special offer to gain some allies in this land. He was offering us the chance to become part of his pack, to become a warewolf!
This sparked an emotional debate amongst our group. Many more wolves were gathering in the shadows and this was looking to be a battle that we would be hard pressed to win. Skennis was offering us (Beyond becoming warewolves) the chance to go backwards and avoid any battle, and some in the group thought that was the wisest choice. Others within the group, myself included, thought that we should fight Skennis and his wolves now and resolve to make it to Vallaki and refuge for our new companions.
I cannot, and will not, speak of whom in the group wanted to follow which course of action, as it does not really matter. I will not lay judgement upon any in our troupe while debating an almost impossible decision. Both sides had strong points in the debate. I can only speak to how I felt at the time.
I felt a growing rage as I stood there with the group debating, with Skennis looking on. Death very well awaited us if we chose to fight through and continue our quest. Going back still left us at the mercy of Strahd at the time of his choosing. All of our solutions lay in front of us, not behind. Fear gripped my heart and I felt as if a bristly noose were being drawn slowly taut around my neck.
There was no right answer definitively and I suppose there never is, really. With no good choice in front of us I was forced to confront my deepest resolve. We were stuck in this place, potentially forever under the thumb of an evil overlord. I could tangibly feel and see the deflating effect this place was having on my friends. Beyond our resolve to escape this predicament, what was our first, most natural response to problems since coming here? To steadfastly and heroically fight against the evil of this place, to aid those we could, and to bring the Morning Lord's light to this dark realm.
Our actions in the Death House and Barovia came from a pure place of goodness and knowledge of what was right. I strongly felt that some fate has brought my heroic friends and I here, to make a difference and perhaps lift the curse upon this land for all of these downtrodden souls. My rage built until I burst a few feet ahead of the group and screamed at Skennis, with all I could muster, to stand aside - calling him a knave and whatever other names came to my mind. I have never felt so strongly about anything, we cannot go back on our word to Ismark and the Lady Ireena. The only way to salvation was to go forward and fight the evil that lay ahead.
I realize how foolish I must have looked - this small and unassuming creature red with rage pointing down the road to an obviously more powerful foe, but it felt right somehow. I know that I am not the warrior and never will be, but these people whom I am bonded through battle with are all the most courageous and heroic beings I have ever met, or even read about. Each one is a manificent and righteous warrior against the darkness. I am humbled to even consider myself their friend. If I, as small as I am, stood forward and defied the werewolf, perhaps my friends could find resolve in themselves.
As Skennis smiled and the debate continued, Ismark relented and said he would go back to Barovia. With a heavy heart I voted to break the tie and go back to the village. Once we were well away from that evil creature, We stopped and debated some more. You see, Janlynn had whispered to Ismark to pretend to relent and go back, to buy us some more time to figure this problem out. We discussed gathering more silvered weapons in Barovia.
Finn's Journal #13 – Aug 07 – 2017
As the wolves continued to gather in the dark forest, we ultimately came to the conclusion that we would go back and fortify ourselves against the potential onslaught of Strahd that night. We quickly stopped by the Vistani camp at Tser pool on the way back to see if they had any silver weapons they would be willing to part with. They did not, but they did have an artisan there who could coat weapons in silver if we supplied the silver and a modest stipend to the weaponsmith.
We arrived in Barovia village before nightfall and searched for a suitibly abandoned home that we would be able to fortify against the evils that walk the darkness of night. While searching for sturdy boards to shore up our defenses we encountered several of those Zombies in an adjacent building. They shambled to attack and my friends aquitted themselves well against their foes.
Akkiir took his stance in the doorway - his blade seeming to sing even as his voice rose to accompany it. His movemenets were flawless as he danced against our enemies. The zombies could not touch him! Tetsuo darted in and out past Akkiir to strike efficiently at the undead while the rest of the troupe used ranged weapons to finish them off. It was another perfect battle against the slow moving zombies. It is gratifying to see that our group is becoming quite cohesive in our strategies in combat.
Entry 12 - Day 8
That night was like any other in this damnable place - nightmares and strange scuttling noises outside our makeshift fort all night long. Our first order of business was to begin gathering our silvered weapons. We took a run back to the Death House because I remembered that there was an ornate long sword with the Durst's family crest on it's hilt hanging above the fireplace. The house seemed a dead shell; it's previous feeling of threat and terror replaced by an almost sagging sadness. The long sword turned out to not be silvered, unfortunately, but we took it anyway.
Ismark tried to reason with the mercantiler to gain silvered weapons to no avail. We could never afford that bandit's prices. Ismark was able to gather up a couple of weapons as well as a smith who would be willing to silver Uphir's great axe for less than the Vistani would charge. It would take two days, however. We would have to wait until the end of the day tomorrow.
We visited the priest, Donavich, at the crumbling church. He was the same as before, praying to the Morninglord for a miracle that was not coming from any apparent divine entity. We were remiss in fully investigating his son Doru and his condition last time, so we made a point to try and communicate with Doru through the trap door in the floor.
It was too dangerous to open the door, so we talked to him through it. He was desperate for the blood he could smell pumping through our bodies. We tried to learn as much as we could about our enemy from him, but we fairly quickly came to the conclusion that his condition, combined with the fact of his starving imprisonment, had rendered him a gibbering madman.
Feeling the heavy oppressiveness of the day, we decided that we would spend some time at the tavern enjoying, however we could, the wine offered from the indifferent Arik. Having our bodies sufficiently warmed, we passed the day away until we reposed once again in our makeshift refuge.
Entry 13 - Day 9
The night was as unpleasant as any of the others but we did not suffer any attacks from wolves or the undead. We thought we might go and check out the waterfall at some point today but otherwise had to wait until Uphir's axe was made ready. Walking the streets of Barovia we soon saw the elderly pastry vendor pushing her cart through the streets and knocking on people's doors. Nim's uncanny senses screamed a warning to him that the old woman was not as she appeared. He knew her to not only be an evil creature, but a vile fiend from some dark netherworld.
We felt that from the look of her and what Nim's senses were telling him that this might just be one of those Night Hag's we had heard about from the Vistani. We called out to her as we approached cautiously, hoping to investigate further. She was selling her pastries to the people in the doorway for one gold piece each! This was an unrealistic amount to expect a normal townsperson to afford, but they paid it happily.
I perhaps pushed things too far with my irreverant banter - alright I admit I asked her if her pastries were made up of bits of lost children, but I was hoping to gauge her reaction. She was baffled by the boldness of my question and I quipped that it was okay, I ask that of every new person that I meet. Before my playfulness could continue much further, I felt a growing heat beside me as a flash of brilliant golden light exploded to my left!
I had been preoccupied and had missed the resolve steeling itself in my friend Janlynn. I am sure that she was outraged that one of these children-stealing Hag's stood before her in defiance of Lathander and all that is good in this world or ours. Drawing upon the might of the Morninglord, she let forth a blast of golden light from her palms that blazed a hot path between her and the creature to slam into the hag with such force and energy that it partially blinded all who saw it's effect and blew the hag down the street several feet.
Never have I seen such raw, naked power diplayed in all of my life. Our hair and clothes were blown back and even the dirt on the ground dispersed from the sheer force of her attack - pushing outward as a shockwave just ahead of the Dawnlord's powerful blast - I was almost knocked over!
The terrified townspeople slammed their doors and who could blame them. Janlynn used her magic and determined that the pastries were not poisoned and I used my gnomish powers to see that each of the pastries held a small enchantment within them. Perhaps that was why these poor people were willing to pay so much. Nim quickly began destroying the baked goods upon the ground, he was determined that no one else should eat and fall under the sway of the night hag.
We learned that the enchantment of the pastries caused the person who ate it to have good dreams that relieved them from their wasted and forlorn lives. They had some sort of narcotic effect upon them and they had to have more; always more. Our biggest surprise came from examining the hag's cart. In a squirming sack underneath, a young boy was found. We quickly learned that his parents had given him to the hags as payment for their pastries!
What in Cyric's name was going on with these people? How could they do such a thing? In anger, we stormed off towards the childs home to confront his parents. Behind us many townspeople came out into the street to scrape up what was left of the destroyed pastries. When we arrived, Uphir could not contain her rage as she barged into the hovel to find the two parents passed out upon the furniture, evidence of pastries lying about.
The child was afraid and try as we might to convince him to trust us he was resolute to stay with the very parents who gave him away to a fiend. I slapped the father across the face to wake him up as Uhpir gathered up the mother by the scruff of her neck. As angry as we were, these wretches were not even capable of hearing our condemnation of them as they kept drifting back into their enchanted slumber.
A sort of compromise was reached with the child as he led us to his grandmother's home nearby. To not frighten the woman, Janlynn approached and met with the grandmother who seemed to be of clear mind and pastry free. After her initial fear she was understandably disturbed to hear what the child's parents had done and promised to look after the child. That was the best of many bad outcomes we could find to help the child. We gave her some silver and wished her well.
Just as we all were coming to our senses, Janlynn stepped forward with an argry but righteous look upon her face and quickly followed up with another blast of intense dawn light! The evil creature crouched there, down the street, with the tendrils of darkness that the light had blown away from her slowly and desperately trying to rejoin her blasted and battered form.With a look of such pure hatred upon her face, she waved her hand through the smoky tendrils and she devolved into a dark, dissipating mist. She was gone!
Finn's Journal #14 – Aug 14 – 2017
We decided to head out to the waterfall to see what we could see. A powerful mage fell to his death there, so it was worth a look and our imaginations supposed that a waterfall would be the ideal place to hide a secret behind as well. We spent qiute a large part of the afternoon jury-rigging a raft that we could use to access the pool directly beneath the waterfall. We decided that the raft building experience had taken too long so we stashed the raft in the undergrowth on the bank of the river to retrieve later, and heading back to Barovia.
We collected Uphir's axe from the smith and, as it was the end of the day and we were definitely reluctant to travel at night through this cursed land - under the gaze of Strahd, we headed once again to rest for the night. When we got to our rugged hidey-hole we found it occupied by a few downtrodden townsfolk. We invited them to stay the night and break bread with us in the safety we could provide. They accepted our offer and we all settled in.
I love children and seeing their bright faces light up when I entertain them, so I did just that. It became quickly and painfully obvious after a short while that something was wrong with some of these villagers. One mother looked fine and was communicative in her shy and wary way, but the other mother held dead eyes and did not participate in anything.
For myself, the interraction with the children is what caused alarm. Only one of the children would engage with me - the other two held the same vacant look in their eyes. They lived; moved; breathed; and seemed aware of their surroundings, but seemed lost. We had heard that some of the villagers were "Soulless" and that truly is the best description for their state.
Janlynn and others tried to engage with the one mother and tried to determine what caused this soulless state, but could not get a helpful answer. They were seeking shelter here because they were evicted from their previous home because of the nature of the soulless ones. One can only hope and pray that the Morninglord will shine upon them with the rays of the morning sun and bring to them the hope of a new beginning. We will try and bring that to them if we are able. But we must succeed in the daunting quests ahead of us.
Entry 14 - Day 10
This morning we were all saddened by the poor state of these people with the dark and hollow eyes, not even capable of expressing the despair of their situation, but this encouraged us to go forth without delay and finally start on the next part of our journey to not only escape, but to hopefully save this land. To do that we must pass through the blockade of the werewolf Skennis.
We headed off for the bridge and waterfall and then beyond to the forested heights of the mountain. This land decided to bring us a forlorn rain to see us on our way. My companions were steadfast and resolute this time. They knew that the only solution was to go forward and that meant going through Skennis and his canine minions. I am proud to say thay we walked bravely into the wolfs den and as we passed the road leading up to the castle (The carriage was not there this time) we soon saw wolves gathering in the forests around us. They were not going to negotiate this time - the wolves were attacking!
Finn's Journal #15 – Aug 28 – 2017
Our front rank warriors stepped forward to meet the oncoming wolves. I took to the nearest tree to have the best vantage point to cast spells and fey blasts, and Ireena soon followed. Ismark took up position near the tree to defend his sister. The first wolves quickly slammed against our front rank, Akkiir was dancing his blades in strange arcs and slashes while Uphir grimaced and swung her mighty axe. Janlynn summoned a blessed, glimmering mace which hovered forward to smite her opponants with her god's wrath. Tetsuo's staff and feet swept in upon the wolves and deftly darted away while Nim took up an archer's posture to fire his crossbow into the creatures.
The sheer number of wolves was an oppressive sight, and we could see more coming from the trees ahead as well as sneaking up from behind us on the road. To stand against such primal fury would be a task hard won by any group of fighters, but our company stood un-moving before the onslaught, felling wolf after wolf almost as soon as their snapping jaws came within reach.
The rear wolves were upon us quickly and I used a spell to outline these wolves in a green glowing enchantment to aid in the fight against them. Ismark and Janlynn met these foes with staunch bravery as the others finished off the front group of wolves and awaited the run of the next wave. Blessings were cast from both Nim and Janlynn to aid their fellows with the strength of their just gods. Never have I seen such bravery and teamwork as they fought beside each other, each complimenting the other with their own specific skills.
The second wave of wolves at the front were being held at bay by Uphir, Akkiir, Tetsuo and Nim (who had moved to close ranks to fight) when we saw the dire wolves upon the ridge. One dark wolf had yellow glowing eyes and could only be Skennis. The last of the rear wolves were fleeing and most of the front rank wolves were down and we thought things were going quite well - Skennis was determined to ruin our day however. He rushed in with several other huge wolves and charged heavily into the front line, for a moment it looked like they would break the line, but our line held!
These wolves were much more powerful (They may have possibly been werewolves) and likely our silvered weapons worked well against them. Many of our company were bloodied and I could see Janlynn applying healing miracles amidst the melee. I cast another enchantment upon these new wolves. Amongst the biting maws and expertly swung blades, we once again saw the might of Lathander blast forth from Janlynn - pushing past everyone in it's path to find it's target in the yellow-eyed wolf. In a blinding flash of light we could see Skennis being pulled and twisted in a strange way as it appeared he was drawn into a quickly vanishing portal. He had been banished by Janlynn!
Seeing this, some of the wolves fled and a few remained to ultimately be killed by this courageous troupe. The battle was soon over and we took a moment to catch our breath, and look around at our fellows with a relieved look upon our faces. We had just overcome an intense obstacle. While the flush was still upon our faces, suddenly the strange portal deposited Skennis right back to where he had been taken.
Fierce battle was upon us all at once as a confused Skennis attacked wildly and our fighters responded with sharp silvered weapons. My fey blast was fortunate once more and skennis, bloodied from many wounds and almost dead, was finished off and his blasted body was hurled down the road. He died in a horrible almost transformed half wolf - half man form. With his last breath, he croaked out "Wait until Silvo finds you" or something to that affect.
We could not even take this time to celebrate our victory as the wolves who fled could be back upon us a any moment, possibly with even more of their ilk. Their unearthly howling could still be heard through the pounding sound of the rain. We rushed on to try and make the next village as soon as possible.
After 2 miles we soon came to a branching of the road - one clearly went to the town, still some distance away, and the other seemed to lead to an ancient looking wind mill. Well, we all knew what likely awaited us at the windmill, so we decided first to get to the town and rest before another big fight. As we rushed through the mountain trail, many of us fell under a strange beguilement. I cannot speak for the others, but I can say that all of the sudden I knew in my mind; in my soul, I must run down the road to see the most amazing sight one could ever behold. I did not know any specifics, but the power of that urge overcame all other senses.
As I understand it, we all rushed forward along the trail with a steep drop off to one side and a dense treeline on a slight elevation - this area was where we were desperately trying to get to in our silenced minds. Some of the group's minds were released before the others, but when I came back to my senses I was in Uphir's arms and she had a look of relief on her face as she saw my eyes register my surroundings.
What I woke up to was chaos and confusion. I could hear the thudding impact of objects embedding themselves into the tree's around us in a flurry and noticed that I had a hard spine of a dart sticking out of my arm. How long it was there I cannot say, but it certainlt hurt now. I could see my friends bravely rushing in to try an extricate their mind numbed companions, even as small creatures, barely seen amongst the foliage, fired blowgun needles at us in rapid succession.
Uphir rushed in and scooped up Ismark who was fighting her in his beguiled way. He seemed intent upon staring up into the trees quite happily. Uphir grimaced appologetically as she thumped Ismark solidly on the head, knocking him out. She threw him in my direction and moved back into the fray with needles riddling her mighty form. I took up Ismark as my burden and dragged him the rest of the way toward the road to hide him behind a wide tree trunk.
Shadows flitted in the trees and I could not make out what large entities lurked above, but either way, the needling blowguns were the immediate threat. Ireena was captured by Janlynn and Akkiir fought his way towards Tetsuo, whose mind was completely held by whatever demanded he stare into the tree tops. He was absolutely covered in darts and had bloodily dropped to one knee from the loss of blood, unconcerned with his impending death. Akkiir suffered much for his heroics as Tetsuo had gone farther than any of us into the copse of trees, but he managed to drag him back to the road and behind cover. Things did not bode well for our group!
FINN'S JOURNAL
