The Amber Temple

The old monk's corpse and the Vistani were right to warn us… we should never have come here...
 
The Amber Temple is but a place of the darkest evils in this world and we are fools to be here. I am a fool to have come along with Trevor and the others. I should have tried harder to convince them to all stay away. I say this even knowing that Kasimir's obsession with getting his sister back is one that I'd never have been able to sway him from..
 
When we left the Vistani’s secured room, we made our way to the door. At the far end of the massive antechamber. As we approached, Oswald leading the way, a bolt of lightning shot out from a statue guarding the door. The statue wasn’t a statue at all, but a demon…
 
Oswald managed to counter the lightning bolt and prevent it from hurting anyone. This was bad. The demon was massive… about the same size as the creature that Trevor guided us around in the ruins underneath Krezk.
 
The ensuing fight was unlike anything I’ve ever seen before today. I have faced men. I have faced hags, undead knights, werewolves, druids and all manner of beasts. I have faced the Devil, Strahd, himself. But I had never, up until that very moment, come face to face with an actual demon… it was terrifying.
 
I didn’t know how to fight a demon. But, thinking back to our narrow escape from the roc on Mount Baratok, I cast Greater Invisibility on Trevor. If he was invisible, that would be the best way I could ensure that he might actually come out of this alive.
 
The demon (an Arcanaloth, according to the others) stood still for a moment, raising its hands into the air and summoning an oppressive energy. A gate opened on the other side of the room, and another demon appeared. Fuck.
 
Someone called out that we needed to kill the Arcanaloth in order for the other one to disappear. I wasn’t paying attention. Fireballs rained down from arrowslits near that roof, and both Eerika and Adrastos went down. They were out of my reach. I ran towards them as fast as I could, but I didn’t make it in time. For a split second, I thought about casting a Dimension Door spell, but I worried it would make me more of a target - as well as the two party members I was trying to heal.
 
I was too late…
 
Even as I got a few paces away, I could see Eerika’s shuddering breaths slow, and the vampire who was so taken with Erkki appeared next to her, scooping up her body and stepping through a portal. I could have healed her! And now, she was just bound for certain death, or something far worse…
 
Elaine teleported beside Adrastos, and she dragged his unconscious body closer to me. As soon as I was within reach, I touched him, pumping him with as much healing energy as I could manage.
 
The fight was going on in earnest behind me. Kasimir was facing off against the summoned demon, and Oswald had the Arcanaloth backed up into a corner. I could hear Trevor’s whip cracking unusually quickly, so I assumed he was beside Oswald.
 
I heard a curse and a plaintive cry from the Arcanaloth - a sound I never would have expected from the creature, until I realized to my horror that it wasn’t the demon at all… it held Piddlewink in its massive grasp. Before anyone had time to even react, it tore his little body in two! Piddlewink’s mangled body fell in pieces where the demon threw it, right at Oswald’s feet.
 
While I cannot say that I was attached to Piddlewink, I never would have wished this gruesome fate on the little Blinsky doll.
 
Everything was in a blur…
 
The summoned demon ignored Kasimir’s slashing blade, and held its arms aloft, summoning an ominous orb of energy in its hand. I stood there, watching helplessly as it threw the ball directly at Brynden, up against the opposite wall.
 
The energy splashed into Brynden as pure acid. I heard a scream and my vision was obscured by the smoke that rose from Brynden and the wall and floor around him. The demon popped back out of existence, allowing me to see what it left in its wake.
 
Brynden lay on the ground. His clothes were so mangled that I couldn’t even tell if he was alive. Elaine and I ran over to him, careful to avoid the acid still pooling in the area.
 
I have never seen any injuries so horrible in my life - at least not when the victim is still breathing. There was the faintest breath passing through his lungs. I cannot fathom how he is still alive after that… and I found myself wondering, as I tried to bring him any form of relief, if it would have been more merciful for me to let him die…
 
Brynden’s legs are completely gone. It looks like the acid must have hit him squarely in the knees, for his legs are completely gone. All that remains are the small stumps of his upper thighs. His clothes were mostly melted off him as well. I could barely look at his face… when I poured all of the healing that I have into his body, trying to ease a bit of his pain and hold him to us, he woke up screaming. Oswald managed to calm him slightly, but I knew that it wouldn’t last long…
 
Adrastos and Oswald began debating who was going to carry Brynden, for there was no way that he would be able to move himself… and none of us were willing to watch him try to crawl. Oh gods… the poor boy… I can’t help but think of what I would be feeling were I in his position… to have to rely on others to help me move about? To never dance or perform again?... I think I would rather die. I sincerely hope that whatever fulfillment Brynden receives from his pursuit of magic will be enough to sustain him in the days ahead…
 
Kasimir walked up and glanced down at Brynden impatiently, saying we needed to get a move on. He looked at Brynden as though he was nothing more than an obstacle in his way. He didn’t seem the slightest bit bothered by the fact that Brynden, not even twenty years old, is now going to have to navigate life without his legs! I would have liked to think that Kasimir, after all that he’s been through, would have at least had the decency to grant Brynden a few minutes to process what had just happened. But maybe that is the way of the dusk elves… to be complete, utter dicks to anyone who has had such trauma. I would have expected better from him. Why, I don’t know, but I did...
 
We were a noticeably subdued group as we continued on, Adrastos carrying Brynden on his back.
 
As we approached the far end of the antechamber, we could see the doorway that the Arcanaloth had been guarding… it was then that Eerika came running out from a side chamber… alive.
 
Eerika was covered in the blood and injuries that had downed her, and in all honestly, must have killed her, because I don’t see that vampire being one to carry someone away to heal them.
 
I asked her what happened, and she said that she died, but that “the nice vampire” had brought her back to life. Oh, fuck…
 
Initially, even with the questionable circumstances, I was elated to see her… but then I noticed burning runes encircling her neck… we inspected them and discovered that they were effectively forming a magical collar around her neck. Those runes would enable the vampire who had raised her to control her body at will. He could wait until we were all asleep, and then command her body to go to each of us and slit our throats. There would be nothing Eerika could do to stop it either...
 
We passed through the doors and found ourselves in a bedchamber of sorts. Bookshelves lined all the walls and a massive bed commanded the center of the room, but it was covered in years of dust. A skeleton was seated in a throne-like armchair, also covered in dust, its robes looking like they would fall apart at the slightest disturbance.
 
I glanced all around, waiting for the demon hiding in the shadows to reveal itself… until the skeleton spoke. It was a lich. We had made our way into the personal chambers of a lich! I looked to the others, and it was disturbing how well they were taking this in stride. Adrastos set Brynden down on the bed. Brynden made a half-hearted attempt to wipe the dust away, before he laid down, falling into the merciful blackness of unconsciousness.
 
The lich and Oswald began staring intently at each other for a while, not speaking. After several moments of this awkward silence, the lich reached into his robes and pulled out a glass jar, a phalactery. Apparently it is a magical container that holds souls and keeps the lich alive. He held it out to Oswald… which I thought was incredibly stupid because why wouldn’t Oswald just smash it? This lich was pure evil…
 
Oswald looked resigned as he stepped forward, something was wrong. I grabbed him by the shoulder and tried to spin him around to face me, demanding to know what was going on.
 
He said that the lich had offered to restore Brynden’s legs and health, and guide us through the Amber Temple, in exchange for a soul to consume for his phalactery. He had said that he didn’t care what soul it was, perhaps the Vistani in the previous chamber, perhaps Eerika (as she was likely to turn on the party without provocation or notice)... I could not believe that Oswald was even listening to this drivel! This thing reeked of pure evil - even I could sense it! Why was he even thinking of parlaying with it?
 
Then I figured it out… Oswald said that he was going to trade his soul for Brynden’s. Oswald thinks that, without his legs, Brynden is going to be even easier pickings for one of the Dark Powers - and while I cannot say I disagree with him, does he not realize that he would likely be dooming us all to a similar fate if he willingly and so cheaply gave up his soul? I was least worried about Oswald in this place… perhaps I should have been most concerned about him and his stupidly “noble” decisions…
 
Trevor spoke up, saying something about the aspire who had placed the binding runes on Eerika… surely the lich would like to have a soul that powerful.
 
And…
 
Speak of a devil and it shall appear… for the oddly-dwarf-obesessed vampire showed up then, asking what this was all about. He quickly figured out what was going on, and made some rather horrble threats. Oddly enough, he said that he is not necessarily siding with Strahd on all matters, and with the way he was talking, it led us to believe that if we left him alone, he might leave us alone and allow us to go after Strahd…
 
The guys asked him if he would remove the binding curse from Eerika as a show of good faith, and after some convincing, and talk of dwarf husbandry (is that even a thing??), he agreed, and the burning runes about Eerika’s neck melted away.
 
Did I mention that he had Erkki with him? Well, what remained of Erkki’s body, that is… I wish I could block the image out of my mind, Erkki’s flayed and mangled corpse hobbling around behind the vampire likes some sick puppet. I managed to not throw up right then and there, which is impressive, if I do say so myself.
 
The guys and the lich got into a bit of an argument, and Oswald nodded to the lich and stepped forward as if to touch the phalactery. Elaine let loose a barrage of magic missiles, which unfortunately, completely fizzled out, but almost in the same moment, Eerika launched herself and smashed the glass jar into a thousand shards. The lich crumbled into dust.
 
Brynden had awoken, and he promptly told Oswald off for not trusting him to make his own decisions. For once, I completely agree with him… Oswald seems to be obsessed with becoming some kind of martyr… even if it means sacrificing all of us in the process. It doesn’t’ make me feel particularly safe or confident in our overall survival chances - even though I gave up all notion of surviving this venture as soon as I convinced the others to release Sergei’s spirit and let him and Tatyana be together…
 
We decided to hunker down in the lich’s room for the night. Kasimir said something rude and stormed out the door by himself, Adrastos immediately following at his heels. I hope they don’t do something stupid and get themselves killed…
 
So now, I am sitting here, in the bedchamber of a lich, watching the others sleeping around me. I cannot sleep. Too much happened today. And, this is an evil place. We should not be here. I wonder what tomorrow will have in store for us, but I’m almost afraid to ask…
 
Hopefully sleep will claim me soon, I need to get some rest. I would wake up Trevor, because there are some things that I want to talk to him about before we go to what is likely our dooms… but he is sleeping so peacefully, I don’t want to wake him...