Lost and Found..

I awoke earlier in the morning than I had really wanted, but despite my best efforts, I could not get back to sleep. In getting prepared for the day, I looked at the pile of clothes and armor on the floor of the wagon, and thought back to the events of the day prior. While I had taken the leather armor used by Strahd’s minions after we fought in Vallaki, I realized that greater dangers will assault us still as we progress through these lands, and it is not for my own sake that I seek protection. The black armor of Strahd’s army was superior to my old leathers I wore when I arrived here, but I have since had its livery changed to that of House Belmont, so as to avoid some of the distrust we had immediately encountered in Argynvostholt. I would prioritize Marushka’s safety over my own, and so, I donned my old armor once more, and left with her the altered black leathers for her use.
 
I stepped out of the wagon as quietly as I could so as not to awaken my companion, and I made my way around to try and find something for breakfast. For once, I had decided to not just stick with the Good Berries that I’d been eating since I arrived, and find some real food for once. There was not much here, which I should have expected, given the situation of this little refugee camp when we arrived. The Vistani were training as usual, and I couldn’t help but to think back to the last time we had the misfortune pleasure of staying with a Vistani caravan for the night. I could almost still see Elaine walking around with her armfuls of foodstuffs, going around to all of us and offering us bread.
 
Ah, the sound of Bryndon and Elaine bickering was almost a fond memory. It actually took me a minute to realize I wasn’t just suffering from conscious auditory hallucinations, but in fact Bryndon stormed out of a wagon as well, with a shrouded woman who sounded exactly like Elaine. To say that I was surprised would be an understatement, but as I write this, I don’t really know why. Almost everything in this land is a fucking shitshow, and my companions and I happened to get front row seats. No, I take that back. We’re the stars of the gods dammed show. Why should Elaine’s return be any more surprising than the “love of Strahd’s life” being reincarnated over and over again just to fuck with him and leave him in his own personal hell?
 
And yet. Here we are. She looked like Elaine, she sounded like Elaine, and yet somehow.. there was a certain something that was off about her. Her cadence and timbre were different than before. Extremely monotone and without emotion. Given her sudden appearance, and her actual appearance, I used by ability to track undead and found that she identified like one to my senses. In fact, she identified as the undead I had been tracking around Vallaki that neither Lady Vachtner nor Strahd could identify.
 
From what she explained to us, she had been “dead” for decades, in some sort of limbo as she was.. I dunno, “re-educated” by the Raven Queen? She had a new and different spellbook. Bertram was still around as well, somehow, but now it seemed we could all hear him, much like Moru when it was still around Bryndon. What is it with that family and Familiars? Speaking of family, Ireena was out and about, and she seemed to be holding a letter in her hand which bore the seal of House Koyanavich. A letter from her brother. She allowed me to read the letter, and it simply stated. “I was wrong. Come back to home.” She was obviously conflicted, and I’m not surprised as to why. I think she knew, as we all did, if she returned home she would end up locked up in her mansion once more. Ireena is a woman grown, and a hell of a fighter in her own right. As much as in her own opinion, locking her up would be a waste, I think.
 
As we stood around discussing our options (I felt disheartened that we were all sort of speaking of her like a precious item that needed to be stowed away), I came up with a new plan. While I would have ultimately preferred her leaving with Ezmerelda and hiding out in Van Richten’s Tower (which, near as I can tell Strahd has never found), the wily vistani woman has absconded in the night, leaving us all behind as she pursued her own plans. Instead, another option presented itself so us, in the form of our old friend Moira being present at the caravan.
 
As we had learned from our dinner with Strahd, Moira’s group had been traveling and acting relatively unnoticed by the vampire lord. Perhaps either they simply hadn’t done enough to actively gain his attention (I wouldn’t be surprised if by this point we were the reason why this would be) or maybe the group simply hadn’t been interacted with in such a manner as to allow Strahd to actively scry on them. And so, my plan was thus: Allow Ireena to travel with Moira and her band of handicapable dwarves. With her mind-shielding ring, we knew Strahd would have no way of scrying on her specifically, and as I just laid out, would or could not scry on Moira’s crew. The freedom in this plan would allow her to still, in a different way than us, use her abilities to do whatever she could against Strahd, and not have her locked away in her family home back in Barovia. Moira is a competent cleric, and I trust her. I could think of no better place for her than there.
 
Everyone else seemed to be in agreement, and so we left Ireena in the care of Moira and her crew. However, we weren’t about to be down a person, as Moira had picked up someone along her way that she bade travel with us. Another headstrong dwarf named Eerika, who wore some sort of dirty spiked armor. I had heard tales back in Faerun of dwarven barbarians who wore spiked armor into battle, but I had never actually seen one in person. In contrast to Moira, she had a beard, which didn’t surprise me honestly. Thin along the jawline, it came to a long braid at the chin. She seemed… more stable, I would say than Erkki, given that the first time I got to interact with her was last night when she was trying to get into my pants. Can’t blame a girl for good taste though.
 
We left to head south toward Berez, and I found a old, dis-used trail that followed the river south from Argynvostholt. While not the most direct path, I wanted to keep the river within eye-shot in the event Erkki’s body should have washed up along the shore, or otherwise left some sort of sign of his landing. The path got worse and worse as we went on, the ground becoming overgrown and the insects were becoming more and more irritating. I thought we were going on well, our general discomfort aside, when a.. tree… tentacle(?) erupted from the ground and grabbed a hold of Bryndon. As it tried to pull him under/into the swamp we were now in, I managed to pull him free. Before we could get any sort of breath, several more tree tentacles burst forth and began to attack us.
 
We battled them back as best as we could, and I had an unsettling realization that this was all a singular creature. As the battle went on, the main body of the creature made itself known as it emerged from behind Marushka, a trio of thrashing tree tentacles grabbing her and pulling her towards its gaping maw. I heard her scream my name not the first time and immediately drew my attention. As I was trying to make my way to her, a man came bolting out from the forest and got to Marushka before I could. Much to my delight, in his attempt to pull her free from the Tree Kraken’s grasp, his strength was lacking and he was unable to free her. What a bloody idiot. When I got to her side, I drew my scimitar and dissected a tree tentacle that was holding Marushlka. Eerika dived into the creature’s mouth, using her spikey armor to tear apart the creature from the inside. While I can’t say I approve of her method, the dwarf woman knows what she’s good at. After an impressive strike from Oswald, the creature crumbled away and finally released Marushka.
 
As we regrouped and took a breather from our battle, we got to meet the newcomer. He introduced himself as “Adrostos”, and seemed to be some sort of oath-broken Paladin. Oswald recognized this immediately, and after a very short conversation, promptly told him to fuck off. I’d never seen this side of Oswald before, but I was proud of him. The man gave little reason for why he wanted to travel with us, aside that he wanted Strahd’s head. Other than being an asshole, the fuckboy gave us little reason to trust him, but we let him follow as he desired. I had little concern that he would be able to defeat us on his own, and I had a good suspicion that Oswald wouldn't leave him alone for long, if at all.
 
Elaine pointed out that a wendigo was up ahead, and I went to investigate. It was still odd to me to have Elaine back, but in a way.. it doesn’t feel that she is. Her presence is far different than before. It feels more like a person wearing Elaine like a suit, and speaking with her voice. She has proven that she is who she says she is, having memories shared with Bryndon that only she would have. Nevertheless, the wendigo.
 
It was far larger than any creature I’d seen since arriving in this country, and it seemed to be inviting us onward. Cautiously, I followed, and motioned for the others to do the same, but stay alert. I did not think the creatures smart enough to plot an ambush for us, as wendigo’s aren’t pack hunters like wolves, but something was strange in its behavior. As we continued, we found ourselves at the gates of Berez, and we found our lost dwarven friend. Crucified and flayed, Erkki’s corpse was on display before us, and the wendigo was showing us. Whether or not this particular wendigo was the culprit to our friend’s death, I do not know, but we didn’t give it much thought regardless. Elaine let loose with a fireball, and Eerika charged in and grappled the wendigo.
 
Unable to free itself from Eerika’s grasp (honestly, the dwarf woman is impressive at what she does..), the wendigo grabbed Erkki’s flayed body, and flung it at Bryndon. As if the land itself were giving me the finger, more, thankfully smaller, wendigos appeared at our flanks, just in time for us to see Erkki’s body begin to convulse. I won’t go into details of the battle, as I already know the images I see in my dreams at night are a constant reminder; I have no need to inscribe the details here.
 
There was a nearby gatehouse as part of the entrance to Berez, and we decided to use it as a place to rest as best as we could for the night. Like Erkki before, Eerika proved most useful in using what resources we had available to fortify a makeshift shelter for us to sleep in. As we tried to settle in, I detected a vampire on its way towards us. It was moving slowly but would reach us in a few hours. I assumed it was in something of a gaseous form given its speed, but that worked well enough for us. I used the time to teach Eerika the basics of combating vampires as well as prepare ourselves for battle as best as we could. We were all so tired and worn out from the battles of the day, it would take tactics over brute strength if we were to get into combat with a vampire right now.
 
In a sick twist of fate, it was the creepy vampire we encountered as we left Castle Ravenloft in Strahd’s black coach that arrived to meet us. Unlike we expected, the vampire had no desire to face us in combat. No, instead, it looked as if it had lost something or someone dear to it, and asked for Erkki’s body to properly put him to rest. In dwarven tradition, they would’ve preferred to be entombed in stone, but here in this swampland of Berez, we had no such way of giving him such a burial. The vampire, however, could. Reluctantly, we agreed, and the creature left with Erkki’s body.
 
Finally we got some sleep, though it did not come easily. As we got up, Elaine stated that there was a strong necromantic aura that had appeared nearby. As we investigated, we noticed a hedge druid was standing outside the gatehouse. The druid was not antagonistic towards us, but engaged in conversation. Especially with Marushka. It began going on about “grandmother” and told Marushka “the truth” about what happened to her as a child and why her family was attacked. Marushka demanded to know the name of this ‘grandmother’ and suddenly passed out on her feet.
 
I caught her easily, standing beside her as I was, but I shook her to wake her up to no avail. She eventually came to, and the druid bade her leave with him. Marushka refused and the druid left without incident. It was surprising all the same, given how hostile everything here has been so far (including our newest “party member”) , but still so when the druid summoned a raft of corpses to go down the river on.
 
Marushka began telling us of a vision she had and how she was in Baba Lysaga’s hut. I told her she was here with me the whole time. She began to cry. I don’t know what I can do for her at this point. What she’s going through is beyond my understanding. I wanted to say something to her. Comfort her. But what words could I offer? What solace could a man like me give? I fear with talk of tieflings and demons and astral projection, Marushka is fearing for herself. Questioning her origins, and perhaps even what she may truly be. All I know is that it doesn’t matter. Marushka is Marushka, whether she’s a human, a tiefling, Baba Lysaga’s granddaughter or whatever. When her eyes finally locked on mine, and I knew I could no longer stay my silence, I told her that I wasn’t good with words, but I’ll support her in any way I can. I didn’t know what else to say. All I know is that it wasn’t enough. Not nearly enough. I could see it in her eyes that it wasn’t enough.
 
I can’t describe this pain in my chest, but that look she gave me cut deeper than any wound I’ve suffered before. And now, we leave to investigate Berez in search of the Fane that’s supposed to be here…