Session 42

General Summary

The Amber Plunge

The group collected themselves and began to cautiously descend the stairs into the Amber Temple. Inside, the party saw a massive faceless statue of a humanoid as the entire space stood deathly silent. Deciding where to go, Ahrieya scouted ahead and headed off towards a chamber in the upper portion of the temple. Listening to the door, Ahrieya could hear deep breathing, and trying to open the door and peaking inside (after Idris unlocks it with magic), saw no active humanoids, but did see a woman lying down unmoving and a hand from under a pile covered by branches and cloth.
Moving inside, they party was greeted by Far Battlehand gasping for air behind the door, and an invisible Talma and Vankirk emerging from invisibility. They explained the situation, that they ran into someone, a gaunt looking elf, outside the temple when moving up here. His attacks debilitated them, and their wounds couldn't seemingly be healed by conventional means. Zarah hasn't awakened, and upon checking, seemed dead. No ressurection magic that they could cast could bring her back. Gio, beyond frustrated, wanted some answers from Talma. She explained she set the trap not knowing who would follow them up the mountain. They don't work for Strahd, but used to as he simply asked them to perform some escort and delivery missions. After a mission he had asked them to do, and they refused, they tried to run. Though, now that they are trapped in Barovia again, they went up to the temple to try and find a way out, and if they can get Gio and the party out too, even better. Gio had a hard time swollowing the information, and went over to check on Zarah, confirming what he was told as he saw the growing and decaying claw-like marks on her body. Ahrieya went over to check out the hand peaking out under the cloth and branches. Looking under, she saw a group of teenage tribal warriors, connecting them to the group of mountain folk sent to the temple.
Nova approached the lifeless body of Zarah. Her black vein pulsated on approach, and upon touching the blackened veins on Zarah, ripped them out of her arms and seemingly absorbed them, feeling fantastic all the while. Gio, frustrated and worried, asked her to stop, especially upon realizing that the black veins were not seperate from her actual veins, thus making ressurection that much more difficult.
When leaving, Vankirk let the group know they were locking the room down when they leave until they figure out how to cure Zarah's condition. They will look around periodically, but otherwise try to stay unnoticed. Ahrieya said "You're welcome" to the family for calling off her brother, all while scolding them for engaging with him. As the group left, a sanctum was set up and the door magically locked once again.

Unknown Machinations

Moving towards the east, the party came across a hole in the floor, leading down into a chamber with massive pieces of amber, as well as a few smoldering green-flamed skulls. Moving up north, the party ran into a lecture room, where they came across a boiled, disease-ridden man with a little imp on his shoulder. He claimed he came here to find a cure for his condition, worried that he had spread his disease to his daughter. Ahrieya called the rest of the party in, and he explained that his amulet allowed something to speak to him to something that beckoned him here. He asked if he could tag along with the group, to which they obliged. The man introduced himself as Vilnius.
Moving further down the hall, Ahrieya opened a door to see a golem made of amber rise and turn to meet her. Closing the door again, Nova moved up, feeling great, opening the door only to see the golem had moved to stand in front of her. As combat began and the golem broke through the opening, the noise had drawn the attention of floating, burning, cackling skulls from the hole in the ground, immediately moving and igniting the entire hallway. Vilnius was scorched, his body resting on the ground. Upon dispatching the remainder of the enemies, Gio spoke to Vilnius, revealing that a power named Fekre wanted him to come here to try and cure his condition. The body seemed confused when Gio referred to the man's daughter, and asked that his body be given to Fekre.
Moving further into the hall, the party came across a stairwell reaking of death. Perhaps we will go here later.
Moving back into the main hall, the group began exploring downstairs. Moving into the main chamber, a blast of lighting shook through many of the party members as they rushed into the western hallway. While many of the doors were locked magically, Gio felt a pull drawing him towards the north as he stared into the room for a long period of time. Reluctant to cast more spells to unlock the doors, Idris, Ariadne, and Nova booked it to the eastern hallway while Gio, Ahrieya, and Kasimir moved towards the northern part of the temple. Ahrieya and Gio managed to find two secret doors behind the statue, and while Ahrieya could see a library up ahead, Gio remained behind as he heard breathing behind the door leading into the statue.
Meanwhile Idris, Ariadne, and Nova explored the eastern hallway. While Idris and Nova felt pulls over here, the group decided against delving into any of the rooms and regrouping back with the party. When Gio rejoined with the trio, Gio informed them of the entity behind the door, and Nova kicked the door down, revealing a fox-like humanoid behind the door. Confused and worried why the party was there, the humanoid demanded they leave. Though a bit of conversation, and intimidation from Idris and Nova, the humanoid introduced themselves as Neferon and told the group he would lead them to the library.

Lore Unending

Ahrieya found herself within a vast, unending library. Immediately, she began searching for her tome of interest after she had found a secret door in the west which led to an office. As the remainder of the party entered, Neferon exclaimed that he did not know all the books in the library, and is really only here to kill intruders as the fox sipped some tea. He recommeneded they talk to Exethanter whom someone had seemingly already opened the door to.
Within the office, the party saw a dessicted humanoid. Asking if he knew them, the party explained they were looking for information. The undead creature then shifted, now much more excited, and corraled the party into the library, grasping and looking for tomes regarding information the group was looking for: Malasule Nadas for Ahrieya and The Amber Ritual for the party. Asking many different questions about the Rozana/Fanes of Barovia/Court of Seasons, the undead revealed that Redinella was indeed The Warden, and her absence has caused a rift in the lycanthropic community within Barovia.

Malasule Nadas The tome reads more like a poem or sheet music than a typical spellbook or history tome. Each line is coupled with another in that they match thematically or grammatically. Simply looking at the pages itself brings you joy in your mind, possibilities hopping in and out of reality. Moving past the preamble, the tome describes a way in which one can sequester their emotions away within the tome itself in order to, in a sense, cut all ties with this world and reality, therefore no longer suffering from the maladies one might face. The tome details a procedure in which, attuned to arcane magics, a ritual can be performed in which an individual is bombarded by raw emotion suffused with the arcane to sever their connection to a particular ailment, though more often it sever’s their connection to everything aside from self-preservation. The tome continues to discuss a theory in which one might be able to reverse their condition caused by the ritual. So long as the one who suffers such an ailment still has the tome in which the spell was cast previously, or if one is in the possession of a tome in which someone else had gone through the process, one might be able to derive the emotions directly from the tome into the individual. However, the tome goes into GREAT detail that a process such as this so closely tied to emotion requires a very rare material component: A lock of hair from a member of a Unseelie or Seelie Court. Fey creatures are the only ones capable of molding pure emotion. Without these two components, or even one, any reader should throw away the possibility of reverting the ritual. The rest of the tome details the steps of the ritual itself, which involves runes, what to do with the components, and the subsequent journey into the mind of the afflicted individual.

The Amber Ritual A tome describes a rudimentary version of the binding spell that the wizards of old Cerrunos, before Barovia became what it is. The dark powers are drawn to the purity of amber, glittering like the golden souls they enjoy consuming. The ritual requires three individuals of sufficient arcane, natural, or divine prowess to initiate the ritual that will draw out the Dark Power. During this time, the force will be at a fraction of its powers, albeit extremely dangerous nonetheless. The ritual must continue for 10 uninterrupted minutes for it to successfully draw out the Dark Power. Then, one of the practitioners needs to maintain concentration on the ritual and any innervating or divine bombardments the entity might deploy. After these conditions are met, the Dark Power will be severed and contained into the single material component needed for this ritual: a shard of amber.

Asking about the Dark Powers, the undead gave an extensive list of the powers imprisoned within Barovia under the promise that the party will not tamper with them. He explained that they consume souls, and lie in order to gain champions to feed them the specialized souls that they enjoy.
Other information given out: The Warden's old shrine lying in the werewolf den, reconsecrating the Swamp Fane requires a horrid creature's heart, reconsecrating the Forest Fane requires a sacrifice of something important to the individual followed by a test of will, the Mountain Fane lies beneath the Gulthias Tree on Yester Hill, Strajd made a deal with the Dark Power known as Vampyr, The Heart of Sorrows allowed increased protection to Strahd, among many others. The undead noted that he had felt Ahrieya's 'soul' enter the temple twice, though cannot pinpoint where the other guest is at the moment, just that he is still here.
The party took this opportunity to ask many questions. Finally, some answers.

Report Date

22 Sep 2023