Session 43

General Summary

Curse Removal

As the party asked their multitude of questions, feeling relatively satisfied. Gio collected his family, bringing Zarah and Far over in order to heal whatever wounds they had recieved from Ayduin. As the two were set down, Gio said come comforting words to his brother before asking if the healing process would be painful, too which the dessicated humanoiod responded affirmed. Taking an opportunity while he was distracted, Gio konked Far on the head, knocking him out. The lich then cast a spell, drawing the darkness of the wounds out into some powdered amber. After the spell, Far's wounds were able to be healed, while Zarah was finally able to be brought back to the land of the living, though her soul may have had trouble finding its way home.
As Nova, Idris, and Ariadne remained in the library with Neferon, Ahrieya moved towards the statue, looking around for anything of interest and perhaps disarming some traps, found a quant little abode in the dusty, dark temple. Though she found a continuous darkness spell in the head of the statue, she found nothing else of interest. Despite this, and after conferring with Vigo, the pair decided to move everything around a few inches in order to piss Neferon off. 

Betrayal of a Third Kind

As Gio's family left to recouperate, the rest of the group gathered in the main area of the temple. Gio, connecting coherent patterns in his head, began to distrust the entity speaking in his head, upsetting him with radiant feedback. Summoning 'Dennis,' Gio began to question the entity as they spoke, frustated and demanding them to cut the bullshit. The entity, seemingly hurt in the mistrust shown by Gio, implored him that he has done nothing to deserve his treatment. When asked what the entity wants, Gio felt a draw towards a room they have not yet visited; a treasure room. As they opened the doors, and an amber golem disappeared from sight, the party looked around and found various items. Despite the eeire creaking, the party came upon an older, decorated hilt of a sword. Giving it to Gio, the entity spoke that it felt familiar. 
However, this was not the only interesting thing in the room. Opposite the entrance, the party saw a fleshy tunnel that seemed to be growing and decaying all at once. Asking Neferon, and even bringing him to the tunnel itself, he found nothing out of the ordinary. Moving through the tunnel he couldnt see, the tunnel snapped shut and opened back, seemingly having disappeared. Thinking he had died, Ahrieya ran to tell the lich, but was greeted surprisingly by Neferon, claiming he had been here the whole time. Moving him through the tunnel again, he appeared back in his chair once again. Further testing and discussion revealed that both the lich and Neferon had no idea about the tunnel. Idris threw some fire into the tunnel, hurting it but the wound quickly revitalized itself. Trying to use some of the cracked and crushed amber, began to dessicate and nullify the tunnel. One by one, the party then moved into the tunnel.

Panic at the Temple

Inside the chamber at the opposite end of the tunnel, a withered, pale elf could be seen casting some sort of ritual or spell on a large piece of amber. Ahrieya swiftly moved up behind him, pressing a knife to his throat. Remarking on how interesting it is to be on the opposite end of the chase, Ahrieya demanded an explanation as to what he has done here, what he did with Strahd, and that she knows his brother is somewhere in there. Ayduin laughed, remarking how he is no longer her brother, something more. He has gotten power; power enough to fix his condition, and that she will no longer need to worry about him anymore. 
A fight ensued, and as the party began to throw blows against Ayduin, found that wounds inflicted upon him relfected onto Ahrieya, but not the other way around. Turning towards Idris, Ayduin remarked on if Idris thought he was the only special one in 'His' good graces. He then summoned orange oozes, not unlike the ooze that appears when Idris summons Goodris. After fighting and being introduced to Ayduin's new power, the party decided that a tactical retreat might be a good option. As they fled, they realized that Kasimir remained behind. Moments later, a change began to grip the temple, and the party realized they needed to go now. However, not before everyone except for Ariadne ran to touch some amber. Gio reluctantly released Par'Thalia, Ahrieya happily freed Vaund who immediately began surmising on how to perform a ritual on Ayduin to heal him, and Nova released Ursor, who seemed proud. Meanwhile, Idris moved over to Coryphian's amber. Summoning Goodris, Coryphian took sentience in the gooey Idris as the two copies of of the tiefling argued with one another. Coryphian claimed he gave power to Ayduin hoping to diversity his assets, as mostly his network is made up of people in his demiplane and a bunch of animals in Barovia. Idris demanded that in order to free Coryphian, he MUST cut off all power to Ayduin. Leaving for a moment, Goodris returned, claiming the blessings were removed. Checking the vibe network, Idris found that the ping was indeed gone.
Ariadne moved to gather Gio's family in order to get them outside. However, when arriving at the entrance outside, Ariadne saw a very undead-looking Rahadin accoomopanied by a cacophany of undead, seemingly in wait. As the rest of the party convienced at the entrance, they prepared for combat, which occured immediately. The party were assulted with hellish fire, necrotic blasts, piles of zombies, and Rahadin himself. Thouogh, this time the party was joined by the Battlehand heads, Talma and Vankirk. A tough fight later, the party finally slew Rahadin once again, hopefully for good this time. Collecting themsellves, the group looked over Rahadin's body, collecting his equipment and items, as well as an unopened letter marked with the seal of Ravenloft. Opening the letter, it seemed to be a wedding announcement with an unspecified date between Strahd and Tatyana von Zarovitch. 
Time to move back down the mountain, and determine how their actions in the temple will alter the reality of Barovia.

Report Date

19 Oct 2023