True Love beneath Krezk

Where to begin? First off, let me say that all of the stories and ballads about true love must actually be true... I honestly wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes. But now? Now I know beyond any shadow of a doubt that it must be true... because there can be no faking the bond that Sergei von Zarovich had with Tatyana... theirs is a love that transcended lifetimes and reincarnations.
 
I don't know what made their love so special, but it is a story for the ages. If I survive this endeavor against Strahd, then I shall write it. A tale and a ballad, such as will bring tears to the eyes of the great noble ladies and lards of Faerun, if Trevor and Brynden are correct and I actually able to go there.
 
Well, as with any story or account... I suppose I should start at the beginning...
 
The morning after my last entry, we moved closer to Krezk. Trevor and Kasimir led the way through the mists. I don’t think I shall ever get used to being able to move through the mists with Kasimir… I keep thinking that I’m going to feel the poisonous effects at any moment, but as long as I stay close to the dusk elf, it doesn’t seem to happen.
 
Kasimir is such an ass. Trevor and Brynden chalk it up to him being an elf, but I think it must run deeper than that. He is the last of his people, and has watched their genocide… how much of his meanspiritedness is a feeling of superiority from being an elf, and how much of it is pain that he is disguising? I am curious, but at the same time, I fear to ask him. It is not my place. And what could I do? All it would accomplish is to reawaken old wounds. And probably, turn him into a bigger ass.
 
As we travelled, the mists began to change. We could see the stone walls of Krezk in the distance. Stone walls! I’ve heard about them, but I never travelled this far west in the valley with the Vistani. The walls of Krezk are more akin to those of Castle Ravenloft than even Vallaki itself (well, what was once the great city of Vallaki…).
 
The mists surrounding Krezk were different. Trevor called it fog. Apparently it is normal rolling down off of a mountain, even in Faerun. In the distance beyond Krezk though, I could see the mist wall… the impenetrable wall of mists that mark the end of the valley. When I was a child, I believed that it was the end of the world… that nothing lay beyond. Now, I know that there is a whole new world on the other side. I find myself believing Trevor more every day, that I might actually get to see that world someday.
 
After what happened today, I find that all of the unrealistic dreams I had as a girl are coming back to me now… maybe they would be possible after all. I mean, honestly, after witnessing what happened, I think anyone would believe in the old ballads and stories now… a concrete belief, and not just one of a foolish, starry-eyed girl.
 
Oswald approached the gates of Krezk first, announcing himself to the guard as he usually does, and requesting to speak with their bourgermeister.
 
After a time, the bourgermeister appeared. At least, I assumed that it was him, because he was dressed like one. Oswald managed to convince him to come down and meet with us in person - because he wouldn’t open the gate to allow us entry, without us first proving ourselves to be an ally to Krezk.
 
A few minutes later, the gates opened enough to allow the bourgermeister and two guards to emerge. He spoke with Oswald for a time, and he said that they were out of wine… and that in order to prove ourselves, we should go retrieve a cart full of wine from the winery. I had no desire to go there, with Baba Lysaga’s minions laying siege to the Wizard of Wines, either as we speak, or in the near future… so I was glad when Oswald discovered that their friend Moira had already been granted entry into Krezk. Apparently, the “hero of the boat” was known to them and so they had granted her entry without question. Figures…
 
Fortunately, the bourgermeister agreed that if Moira were to vouch for us, he would grant us entry. I heard a call go up from the guards, and a short while later, the familiar flame-haired dwarf appeared. She seemed happy to see us, well, at least happy to see the others who arrived with her.
 
Moira vouched for us and we were allowed past the gates. The guards formed an unusually large escort, and surprisingly, they carried their weapons pointed outward, as though they were trying to keep us safe from something, rather than making sure we don’t step out of line…
 
Fog was settled heavily in the streets, and I could hear noises in the alleys around us. I saw something for a brief moment before it darted away. It looked like a deformed beast, possibly related to a werewolf. I told the others what I saw, and Trevor seemed even more alert than normal. I was tempted to ask him how many beasts were around us, but I didn’t… I didn’t honestly want to know…
 
We arrived at the bourgermeister’s house, and once inside, he answered some of our questions.
 
Apparently, this was “the Culling”. The bourgermeister said that several centuries ago, the Abbot arrived, and cured the entire village of Krezk of disease and sickness. The cost of this was the Culling. He said that it is necessary to keep their population low, and as such, during the Culling (which lasts for a few days each year), the weak die off and the health and prosperity of Krezk is maintained. It doesn’t quite add up though, because he did say that he lost his children to a sickness similar to consumption. If it is true that Krezk is free of sickness and disease, then how did the bourgermeister’s children die of consumption? He is a fairly young man, handsome and well-kept, so his children could not have been dead more than a decade and a half or so...
 
I was uncomfortable with the whole situation… something felt wrong, but I wasn’t able to completely place my finger on it. The bourgermeister said that the Abbot wouldn’t see us until we proved ourselves… He said that in order to do so, we would need to survive in the streets for a day and a night. If that is what it takes to prove oneself to the Abbot, I wasn’t looking forward to facing what must be prowling these streets…
 
Trevor asked Moira if she would accompany us, but she declined, saying that she needed to “stay and protect the lassie.” Ireena came downstairs then, and we had a brief conversation while the bourgermeister called for our guide.
 
Our guide arrived, carrying a lantern and wearing a very tall hat. He was older, far past his prime, but I felt like this was perhaps a good thing for a guide, because he must have survived many of these “cullings”.
 
My hopes were utterly dashed as soon as he stepped out the door. A dark shape slammed into him and carried him off into the fog. That was scary.
 
Eerika, in her usual fashion, charged right out the door and attacked the beast. I followed after Trevor and the others. I was ready to do what I could but I couldn’t see much of anything, I could barely see to the other side of the street. This was where we were going to have to spend a day and a night… a horrible stone town where the inhabitants were turned into monstrous creatures from the depths of nightmares.
 
Trevor took a length of rope and tied it around his waist. I wondered what he was up to, until he handed me the other length and instructed me to tie it around myself. At least this way, we wouldn’t be separated in the fog. I felt a bit better. Yes, if one of us got grabbed, it would probably pull the other off of their feet, but I still felt safer. At least this way, if a creature grabbed me, it would have to contend with Trevor as well… and if he were grabbed, I would at least have a chance at keeping him alive long enough to kill whatever grabbed him…
 
We traversed the streets of Krezk for some time, and killed several of the mutated beasts, or apparently, “citizens of Krezk”. Finally, Trevor and Kasimir led us to the locked gate leading up to the abbey. Piddlewink popped out of Oswald’s pouch, and slipped through the gate to tie a rope around the top. We climbed over the gate and made our way up to the abbey.
 
Oswald, again, was the one who announced us at the door and we were greeted by a couple of very excited children. They led us to the “Abbot”. I didn’t know what was going on… there was a young man, the “Abbot”, standing in the middle of a flock of children. They were drinking from his wrists that he was holding out to them. It was as though they were charmed or something, but I didn’t see any evidence of the glazed eyes or anything that normally accompany someone being enchanted…
 
Oswald later told us that the Abbot wasn’t an Abbot at all, but rather, he was a celestial. Something called a deva… I don’t know what that entails particularly, but it is a celestial being that is incredibly powerful - so much so that Oswald didn’t call him out right away. Brynden wanted to attack him, but honestly, Brynden has been lashing out a lot lately… I think it is probably due to everything that has happened to him… I know that Elaine coming back as she has must be fucking with his mind more than he is admitting. And, I don’t know if I even want to know what he endured when he was taken by the “daughters” of Baba Lysaga…
 
Anyways, I digress…
 
We made our way down into the depths underneath the abbey… the rooms just grew more and more disturbing as we went… bodies and skeletons of children were everywhere… bloodied tools were everywhere. The whole place made me feel sick. Somehow it almost felt worse than the Old Bonegrinder… for there, the hags were slaughtering and eating children, but here… here… there was evidence of torture everywhere. I cannot believe that I have seen a place that I think of as worse than the abode of Mother Morgantha and the other hags… but this place? I have never seen so many dead and mutilated bodies… and they were all children! I felt as though my heart was breaking a little more with each step deeper we went…
 
When we got to what appeared to be the last main chamber, Kasimir brought up a point… we were searching for the sun spear, in which resides the soul of Sergei von Zarovich… and we had left Ireena at the bourgermeister’s house with Moira… we would probably need her to be with us if we were going to get Sergei’s soul to work with us… or even have any hope of contacting him.
 
So, Kasimir left to go fetch Ireena. I asked him to please be careful. He assured me in his superior fashion that there would not be a repeat of the last time… I hoped he was correct, but didn’t see any other option than to trust him… seeing as his one lifetime of personal experience is far greater than all of the rest of ours, put together…
 
We were deciding whether we were going to explore further, or simply wait for Kasimir to return, when we heard an ominous voice echo through the whole chamber, saying to “please… stay in one spot…” That was unsettling enough, that we decided to do the exact opposite.
 
Elaine indicated which hallway she thought led to the sun spear (the most powerful divine magic of all the magical auras, she said). So, we explored the others, waiting to approach that hallway when Kasimir and Ireena were with us.
 
Adrastos is incorrigible… and if I didn’t know better, I would think that he has no emotions whatsoever. He fucking raised a bunch of the children in the first hallway to serve as a meat shield! Children! Yes, I know that they are already dead… but really? They were children! Most of them looked like they were no older than five or six years old when they died.
 
Yes, I suppose I have to admit that Adrastos’ little child army of undead was useful… but I cried. I couldn’t help the tears when I saw their little bodies getting ripped apart by the various traps in the chambers, or the enemies that we faced… undead though they are, they are still children!
 
In the first chamber, we found a piece of Mordenkainen’s broken staff. Elaine identified it, and said that it holds the power to allow the wielded to cast one fireball spell per day. The group pretty unanimously decided that I should be the one to carry it. I am not complaining with that logic one bit! I am all for having more in my arsenal to help us survive…
 
The second chamber was past a hall of mirrors. Because of our previous experience with mirrors in Argynvolstolt, we decided that our best bet was going to be to avoid looking into them at all. I kept talking Brynden down from smashing them… I would prefer to leave everything as undisturbed as possible in a place as heavily ridden with traps as this is…
 
Oswald entered it, because he saw a symbol of his god, or something like that… when he came out, he was in excruciating pain - I could tell even through his helmet… and he was carrying a shield that was obviously magical. It was festooned in symbols that look like older versions of the ones on his tunic and religious accoutrements.
 
When we made it back into the main chamber, there was a massive creature sitting there, blocking the doorway. I didn’t know what it was, but after a time, Trevor said it was sleeping and we should just quietly go past it, and that it wouldn’t disturb us if we didn’t touch it. I don’t know if he somehow managed to communicate with it, or if he’s just that good at talking to beasts… but either way, it was terrifying. We ended up waiting, and it wasn’t too long before Kasimir arrived with Ireena.
 
Kasimir looked to me as if I knew what was going on with the beast. I whispered to him that I have no idea, and he should ask Trevor or Eerika. (Eerika left it some of her rations… I’m not sure why. But it must be a dwarf thing…)
 
We made it past the beast without incident, but then the corridor split in two. Down to the left was the sound of skittering legs, and to the right was the sound of metal scraping on the flagstones…
 
We went toward the sound of the skittering, and came upon a magical darkness filling the corridor up ahead. Trevor heard the sound of hundreds of spider legs, and immediately said “Nope” and turned around to go the other way. Elaine dispelled the magical darkness, and Moru was there. He threatened Brynden until he agreed to meet with him in the Amber Temple. Oh FUCK. I don’t want to go there! Fortunately though, Moru seemed to be satisfied with Brynden’s acceptance of his demands, and he, and all of his spiders, disappeared.
 
When we went down the other corridor, we came upon a flesh golem. I’d read about them in books before, and heard a few stories, but I’d never seen one in person before… It was disgusting… and an experience I am not inclined to repeat if I can possibly help it. Someone had the bright idea that because Piddlewink is technically a construct, they might be able to talk to each other…
 
I don’t know what Piddlewink said, but whatever it was, pissed off the golem to no end. He smashed Piddlewink with a rock and sent him flying up against the wall. He actually “splatted”. I thought we’d lost him… and while a couple months ago, I wouldn’t have been worried about it, I find that I’ve grown rather attached to the little guy. Fortunately, Oswald was able to save him. The golem was defeated, but it killed a handful of Adrastos’ undead children.
 
We finally made our way further down, and began to hear the sound of running water…
 
The corridor emptied out into a chamber that looked like it had been carved out around a pool of water. A gold staff was sticking out of the center of the pool, it looked to be about seven feet long.
 
Oswald stepped into the water, and a reached out his hand to Ireena. She was scared. I could see her internal debate as to whether she was going to take his hand, or turn andleave, written all across her face. I did not envy her in that moment. Oswald assured her that it would be okay, and I couldn’t take it anymore… I cast calm emotions on her, so that she could more clearly make her own decision.
 
I hope it helped. It seemed to, for Ireena steeled herself and took Oswald’s hand, letting him lead her into the pool. As they walked a few feet into the pool, Ireena stopped dead in her tracks. She began to fall, but Oswald caught her. When she regained her footing, Ireena turned back and looked at all of us. She thanked us. Something about her was different… as if she was Ireena, but not. I had a feeling that I was looking at Tatyana…
 
She then reached out and touched the staff. As soon as her hand touched it, a beam of light shot down from the ceiling and lit up the staff in a blinding golden light. All of the runes came alight on the shaft, and a blinding blade of pure light formed on top of the staff. It looked like a spear of pure, radiant, intense sunlight.
 
The entire pool lit up with the same radiant light. I thought I was seeing things for a minute, as the light was so bright, but it looked like there was a man made of pure light appearing alongside Ireena. But I wasn’t seeing things… the light soon coalesced into the form of an armored man. He moved Ireena behind him and stood there, gripping the spear.
 
Oswald knelt down in the water. Sergei spoke then. His voice was deep and quiet but it carried throughout the whole chamber. “Why have you come?”
 
Oswald told him “We seek to defeat your brother, save this valley, and save Tatyana.”
 
Sergei then looked at all of us individually. I had the distinct feeling that he could see into my mind and heart, as though he was inspecting my past and motivations to see if I was worthy of something. Life, maybe… I didn’t want to know what he would do if he didn’t like what he found…
 
He smiled and told Oswald “I can offer you this spear, but I have one request… let it be wielded by me.”
Oswald agreed, and Sergei said that it wasn’t a decision he could make alone.
I asked him what he means by the spear being wielded by him.
“Let me be the one to kill my brother.” He said.
 
Oswald began saying that he would be willing for his body to be used if that is what Sergei needed, for the sake of all of the souls in the valley, and for the rest of his friends to get out of Barovia. Brynden spoke up though, and disagreed.
 
What Sergei was asking, was for us to free his soul from his spear. If we did that, and gave him what he asked, he would be free to spend eternity with Tatyana/Ireena’s soul. But, by doing so, the spear would lose the power of the sun… it would become nothing more than a metal shaft.
 
“If you free me…” Sergei said “so that I can be with my love, then I will come to you in your hour of need.”
 
Oswald turned back to us, to make a decision. Brynden said that we need the spear for more than just Strahd… Oswald had to remind him that we were talking about a man, not just a spear. Brynden replied that we could always free his soul later, as if that made it better.
 
I looked over at Sergei’s materialized spirit and Ireena/Tatyana… he had his arm wrapped around her and was gently stroking her hair as she leaned into him. She looked like she couldn’t believe what she was seeing, that he was actually there with her. Looking at the two of them standing there, I knew that I had to convince the rest of the party to free him.
 
What other choice was there? There are innumerable ballads, stories and songs about true love… a love that can span time and space… this was it. Looking at Tatyana (for that is who she truly was now), standing in Sergei’s arms… it was like we were privy to a reunion that had been dreamt of for the past seven hundred years. They were so much in love… I thought of Tatyana’s soul, reincarnated multiple times throughout the centuries, always pursued by Strahd, but never able to be reunited with his brother - the one man who she truly loved. I thought of Sergei, his soul trapped within his spear for the past seven centuries, longing for his love, who he would never see again - and even as she was reincarnated, he remained forever trapped in the spear, buried this deep beneath Krezk…
 
THIS was what the stories tried to capture. The love between these two… and seeing it right in front of me, I was struck by the fact that these stories all fell so short. This is what dreams are made of… those dreams that you have in your heart of hearts that you keep close to your chest, and only allude to in your music and stories, lest you give too much of yourself to your audience, and end up with nothing left for yourself. This is what life tries to crush… but love… true love like that of Sergei and Tatyana? That cannot be killed… not even by the machinations of Strahd himself, or the curses of the dark gods, can kill a love like this. It was our duty to do whatever we could to enable them to be together, if not their bodies in life, then at least, their spirits in death…
 
I turned to the rest of the party and tried to convince them to free Sergei’s spirit. I told them that this is what all of the stories and songs are written about. I beseeched them to look at Sergei and Tatyana, how could we not release him so they can finally be together. Brynden was doing his best to persuade the party to disagree with me, because we need the spear. When I realized that it was going to come to a vote eventually, I turned to Adrastos. I knew I could convince him, out of anyone, to agree with me… I asked him if he recognized the signs of true love when he saw it. I asked him that if there was any way for him to be reunited with his love, and a party of adventurers had the opportunity to give him that reunion, or separate them forever, what would he want them to choose?
 
After I’d spoken my part, I stepped back and started to play. I played the saddest, most tragic love ballad that I knew. I poured every ounce of my dreams, emotions and desires into the performance, in an effort to move the party’s hearts of apparent stone.
 
Brynden complained that it wasn’t fair, that I would unfairly sway the others to my way of thinking… but I just motioned to where Sergei and Tatyana were embraced, and told him that what they have is true love, and even if we die in the end without the spear, we would have done the right thing and it would be what I would call a good death.
 
I believed it when I said it, and I will believe it even if I die by the Devil’s hand, and my soul is destined to live and die in pain over and over and over. Watching Sergei and Tatyana together… I would give myself over to Baba Lysaga if that is what it took to allow a love like that to survive…
 
Finally the others agreed to release Sergei, except for Brynden, of course. I didn’t see or hear if Elaine cast a vote, but the majority of the party agreed with me… I’d like to think that Trevor would have released Sergei’s spirit regardless, but maybe that is just girlish daydreams talking. He said something about making Barovia even more of a hell for Strahd than ever, but I’d like to think that was an excuse. I don’t know… sometimes I wish I didn’t have the dreams that seem to be so foreign to everyone around me… I’ll just have to keep writing them in ballads… ballads that I’ll never get to play in the taverns here…
 
I asked Ireena/Tatyana for one favor before they left… I asked if she would give us back the Icon of the Ravenkind. She smiled and handed it to Oswald without hesitation. Then, the two of them, arms around each other, faded away and were gone. As Sergei and Tatyana faded away, so too did the light in the spear…
 
I dashed tears from my eyes before I turned back to the party. We would spend the night there in the cavern, before dealing with the monster upstairs and planning what our strategy would be to deal with Strahd now… he was going to be furious, I could feel it in my bones.
 
Later…
 
The next morning, we filled every available container we had with the water of Sergei’s pool. Oswald said that the whole area was sanctified, and thus, the entire contents of the pool was holy water… this will come in useful for our survival, I think. I hope…
 
Is it terrible of me that I found myself wishing for some privacy with Trevor in this place?... Ah well, perhaps it was seeing Sergei and Tatyana fade away together… or perhaps it is the very real fact that when we leave this place, it might very well be to our doom. If I do die by the hand of Strahd or his minions, I hope this journal makes its way to him, and he reads it… Just in that event, here is a message for him…

Dear Strahd von Zarovich,
 
You are indeed the Devil that my people have called you for as long as we remember. Tatyana is not going to save you. She was never going to save you. You killed her true love, your brother Sergei, but no matter what you may do, or have done, to us… know this… they are together now. Sergei and Tatyana. They are together and happy in whatever afterlife they have gone to. Tatyana’s soul will never be reborn for you to torment with your twisted obsession for her… so, even though I am likely dead, and you may probably kill every future reincarnation of my soul… I would do it again a thousand times over.
 
Know this… just this once, if never again… my friends and I bested you. We bested you and freed Tatyana and Sergei to be together forever. True love will always win in the end, even if it takes a millennia.
 
Fuck you.
 
Never yours,
 
Marushka Dragomir, bard extraordinaire
 
We made our way back up into the abbey. We were prepared to fight the abbot, but fortunately, as soon as Oswald began a conversation with him, Kasimir cast a spell and banished him from this plane. I don’t know where he went, I don’t care where he went… as long as he is away from here and cannot come back.
 
The children freaked out as soon as the abbot was gone, but fortunately, Oswald was able to put them to sleep…
 
We heard a roar on the wind. For a split second, I thought that the abbot might be returning, but no… it was different… I followed Trevor and the others outside. The sky in the east was red… storm clouds were swirling and I could hear a chilling roar of rage carried on the wind from Castle Ravenloft.
 
Strahd knows…
 
...and so it begins…