Day 51: The Amber Temple
General Summary
Day 51 (Хололуна 27, 735/?)
As they prepare to set out the following day, expecting a half-day's travel at most to the temple, Odharnait warns them that the area they're walking into is prone to blizzards, and that this is less familiar territory for him, as their people rarely venture too close to the temple. Sylvain gets to feel vindicated in his couple years' experience as a mercenary, painful memories of wiping with the wrong leaves wiped away in favour of the revelation that he knows how to take precautions against blizzards, and the party ties themselves together in anticipation of any such storms. This precaution, as it turns out, was wisely taken, as it isn't long before a storm starts to build, quickly turning into brutal, cutting winds and snow thick enough that the party can barely see one another, let alone anything else. Thankfully, they manage to stay together, and Ayduin is able to scout out a cave for shelter, guiding the group. However, it isn't long before it becomes clear this cave is excessively Barovian. Far deeper than first anticipated, they find a secondary cavern with obsessive writing carved into the walls, what appears to be a trail of blood through the lichen, and dirt so fucked up it almost knocks Bodaway on his ass when he tries to get a feel for the place. Throw in the low moaning of something pained within, and you've got a recipe for a standard Barovian morning! It could have been another demonic child, but it wasn't, and really I don't get enough credit for how often it isn't a demonic child. It isn't even demons, as it turns out, though Bodaway reasonably enough suspects them at first. Though the party is initially inclined to simply shelter in the outer cavern and avoid an unnecessary fight, when Godfrey points out if they're trapped by a storm anyway this may not be the worst time to read more of the book, to ensure they have all the information they can before reaching the temple, they reluctantly begin to search, Godfrey, Ri-An, and Grghshnq taking the lead. It quickly becomes obvious something is amiss, with the vanguard taking necrotic damage seemingly without cause. They proceed with caution, Odharnait hanging back and promising to shoot from afar if need be. The culprits are revealed: a pair of undead figures in tattered robe, their faces contorted beyond formerly humanoid features, their open, gaping mouths and black, empty eyes seemingly a conduit for sucking the life and hope right out of all who come too close. Fortunately, with Osrin and Godfrey naturally resistant to necrotic damage and with Bodaway joining them once his crimson rite is activated, they have tanks enough to dispatch these enemies, and the ensuing investigation leads them to believe these were likely some form of bodak, a form of undead usually associated with the worship of Orcus. Given the lack of connections between Orcus and this land so far as they know, it seems these creatures were corrupted in similar fashion by their worship of other dark entities; based off a letter found in the nest of one of them, one had once been named Lezre, and had sought to bring their mother back from the dead. Given the pull one of the shards of amber had for Osrin, it is obvious, perhaps, who was responsible for the corruption of that lost Barovian. The caves cleared and a fire built in the lichen chamber, Odharnait keeping watch on the entrance while Grghshnq keeps a watch on the party and Godfrey keeping a watch on both Odharnait's chamber and the party's tunnel, they open the tome again, to learn even more than they ever wanted to know about Strahd von Zarovich. This time, Strahd is older than they last saw him as a human, though he is still only human. Sergei, his brother, is now a young man himself, and came as the bearer of bad news: their mother, Queen Ravenovia, did not survive the journey to her namesake, Castle Ravenloft. The ensuing scene is an uncomfortable display of just what a bad brother Strahd was and what a bad influence Rahadin was. Sylvain, experimenting with the bounds of participating in the Tome as a viewer, tries to slap Strahd and accidentally jumpscares Ayduin right out of the memory, sucking Sylvain into the starring role, which sucks. While the rest of the party plays out or observes the scene of attempted and rejected sibling bonding, Ayduin finds himself back in his body mid-battle, as Godfrey and Grghshnq chase an invisible foe around the caverns, while Odharnait plays dead. In the next several seconds, they're left uncertain if they've defeated their foe, or if it simply got away. The rest of the party, coming back to themselves, try their best to ascertain which outcome it was, but find themselves at a loss for any firm conclusions. With little choice but to continue to wait out the storm either way, they return to the tome. This time, they find themselves in a memory of Strahd's courtship of the OG Tatyana, an experience that is totally comfortable for everyone involved both to participate in and observe. While Strahd!Osrin tries to charm a diplomatic Bodaway!Tatyana, Ayduin!Sergei does his best to stay out of the way, as the party learns Tatyana was in love with the younger von Zarovich brother, not the one who would pursue her across the centuries. Sylvain and Ri-An observe, with Sylvain pointing out the many fine verbal parries Tatyana makes to deflect some of Strahd's more pointed compliments. They learn that at least back then, there was real affection and respect between the pair, if not the sort of affection Strahd wanted to receive. This makes the following memory all the more disturbing: they witness Strahd's murder of his brother Sergei, on the day he was to wed Tatyana, having given his blessing to the pair publicly while making dark deals in private. Sylvain experiences genuine (if second-hand) intense romantic and sexual attraction for the first time while embodying Sergei, which is made extra awkward by him continuing to inhabit Sergei's consciousness as he goes to hug his brother and gets his throat bit out instead. Ayduin gets to inhabit Strahd's brain while he Certainly Makes That Choice, which I'm sure is fine. Bodaway goes from damsel to damsel in distress in his second performance as Tatyana, who flees the scene as soon as she stumbles into it, a feral Strahd in hot pursuit. When the party comes out of this third memory of the day, none of them are doing particularly well, though at least Ayduin's main effect is just thinking about how great either Ireena or Tatyana is/was. Some Lesser Restorations are handed out to help with some of the other more severe lingering effects, and Bodaway confronts Osrin about her trying to shut out both her emotions and by extent her friends from helping out with them. Sylvain has another minor crisis. (I'm sorry, Sylvain. It's relevant enough to be documented here.) Unsettled and uncertain of their fates and whether Strahd will soon be by to take vengeance on them for reading his diary, they wait for the storm to pass before travelling the final stretch to the Amber Temple. They stealth well enough to avoid the roc's notice, successfully evading a skill challenge, and earn both a bunch of XP and my grudging respect. Reaching the temple's facade and already unsettled by the sight of it and the warning inscribed into the archway leading down into its darkness, they notice firelight and the sounds of quiet conversation and laughter off to the west side of the temple. Odharnait confirms their suspicions that this is likely Chief Slaíne's daughter and her companions, and they go to greet the cosantóirí sliabh. Sylvain and Bodaway quickly become the group's favourites with their gifts of wine and tobacco, and Odharnait agrees to remain with his fellow cosantóirí for the evening, potentially escorting some of the more exhausted among them the following day. Sylvain gives some of his more precious books to Odharnait, to preserve the information within in case the party fails to return from whatever awaits them within the temple. They carefully begin to explore the temple, and find themselves rather rudely awakened by an abundance of fireballs, leading them to scramble for shelter behind the nearest closed doors. With many of them badly wounded, they hide in a storage closet and Godfrey heals them up as they discuss next steps. The first order of business, they agree, is to find a safe place to rest for the night, as they're running low on healing magic and energy in general. Finding a room that may be suitable for such a purpose, the party hangs back while Sylvain and Ayduin scout down a corridor, to ensure that no further dangers lie in wait to prey on them in the night, and that nowhere more suitable for a long rest is up ahead. Creeping down a hallway, they find a well-lit room that they cannot investigate for fear of the light drawing the attention of more fireballs through the arrow slits in the wall. Creeping further, they catch a glimpse of some sort of statue, and elect to carefully shut the doors leading to its room, so as not to alert it to their presence, and they creep back down the hall. They actually do an incredible job of that, but since the doors were previously open, this does alert the amber golem to the presence of intruders, and battle begins anew. The golem quickly proves a fearsome foe, being entirely immune to mundane damage, and hitting hard enough that even Godfrey has to retreat. Ri-An casts Enlarge/Reduce on themself to pursue the kaiju battle of their dreams. A telepathic offer of a safe retreat is offered to all of them; the unknown party says it can restrain the golem and allow them to leave, but that if they do not back down, they will be killed. Sylvain replies rather vaguely about what they want from the temple, and his party members continue to fight the golem, which the unknown party understandably takes as a sign of hostility. More fireballs ensue, and the party finds themselves unable to track this mysterious fountain of fireballs. The door to the lit room opens, and Ayduin has a brief conversation with the man within: Vilnius, who wears a raven mask and smells of rosemary and decay. He offers the party his allegiance, and they accept the offer insofar as they all scramble into the door for shelter. Several tense seconds pass, the party finding various ways to hold the door closed even after heat metal is cast on its iron knob. Sylvain begins to scout in search of their elusive pursuer, leaving everyone but him back in the room when a surprise lich appears in the lecture hall along with an arcanaloth. The lich, too, gives them the option to retreat, warning them that they have already ignored one warning, and that to ignore the second will not end well for them. The party insists they are only here in search of a weapon; the lich warns that there are no weapons here. Ri-An readies an attack, which the lich understandably takes as a sign that the party will not be backing down, and it casts a cloud of poisonous fog on the lecture hall, beginning to poison the room at large. Grghshnq is felled by a ray of frost as the lich begins to pick the party off, to continue its duty of protecting the temple from those who would seek to free what sleeps within. Godfrey calls out an apology to the lich from the other side of the crowd, promising that they do not seek the dark powers within. Ri-An calls for Sylvain, who comes back and says they only seek a weapon, a special sword that they believe lies with Sergei von Zarovich, who they have reason to believe is entombed within the temple. The lich drops the cloudkill spell right before Bodaway is forced to take a breath, and looks at Sylvain with utter pity and exasperation. The royal tombs, it informs the party, are in Castle Ravenloft; they will not find Sergei, or any swords, within the temple. Again, it asks them to leave. Sylvain, doing a very good job of making his brain work under the circumstances, mentions that they're also looking for information, specifically on how to restore the Fanes. This, at least, seems to catch the lich's interest, and it looks around the bedraggled party and their Totally Not Suspicious New BFF Vilnius, its attention lingering on the latter. It asks if the party is aligned with Vilnius, and Sylvain says "no but that doesn't mean I condone killing the guy we don't know anything about," while Osrin's take is "I don't know this guy; kill him if you need to." The lich removes Vilnius's mask with its mage hand, revealing a poxy, sore-covered face familiar to Bodaway from his previous vision of the temple, and says that Vilnius must die. Bodaway, who knows enough about liches to be happy to jump if one says jump, absolutely bolts across the lecture hall with all the cinematic glory of a slow-mo action movie leap, absolutely impaling Vilnius with his sword. With this messy business taken care of, Vilnius's pestilent body beginning to decay at an alarming rate, the lich agrees to take the party to the library to discuss more. The party follows the lich, the arcanaloth trailing them somewhere invisibly, to the library, where the lich... tries to find a kettle to make them tea. What follows is a lengthy conversation and consultation that leads to several revelations, including the probable location of the Sunsword, the probable nature of Ri-An's existence and that of the Ladies Three, and what exactly must be done to kill Strahd von Zarovich for good. No big deal, just involves fighting and binding a manifestation of a Dark Power comparable to a tarrasque after killing Strahd himself.
Report Date
04 Apr 2023
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