Trevor Belmont

Relationships

Trevor Belmont

Husband

Towards Marushka Dragomir-Belmont

Yes, one of -those- Belmonts.

View Character Profile

Alignment

Neutral Good

Spouses

Marushka Dragomir-Belmont (Wife)

Siblings

Children

Gender

Male

Eyes

Blue

Hair

Brown

Skin Tone/Pigmentation

White

Height

6'1"

Daybreak
Session 26 Jul 2, 2021

We won. We killed Strahd von Zarovich and set free the land of Barovia. Like all great victories, however, it came with sacrifices. I do not recall much of the battle, as the experience of being a werewolf places the mind in a frenzy of instinct and rage. Much of it was a blur with only moments of clarity, up until the skies seemed to split open, pouring sunlight down upon Castle Ravenloft, and released the curse that the moon held sway over me. I was naked on that balcony, but it certainly wasn't the first time I'd awoken to my senses and found myself without clothes on. Likely won't be the last time either. I know Elaine left with the Raven Queen to return to her non-existence. Bryndon left us when he broke the Staff of Power. Adrostos sacrificed himself at the Amber Temple for a personal matter that I don't believe I would ever understand. Oren seemed to slip away in the aftermath of Strahd's death, none of us knowning his fate. Rudolph van Richten sacrificed himself so that we could retrieve Strahd's Diary from the crazed revenant Vladamir Horngaard. Ireena allowed herself to become Tatyana fully, and finally broke free of her curse of reincarnation to be forever with her love Sergei. Erkki plummeted to his death within the halls of Argonvostholt, trying to help complete the trials given to us. Kasimir fell to Strahd in our final battle, I'm told, having been disintegrated by some spell of the Devil's. And Oswald. Ever the self-sacrificing. Gave his all to save us for as long as he could withstand, only to fall by Strahd's blade. I truly believe it was Oswald that called the spirit of Sergei to our aid in our final moments. I remember seeing the glowing angelic form of the man, after I was forcefully returned to my human form, basically cripple Strahd and call over Marushka and Ezmerelda to deliever the final blow to his brother. We owe them all a debt that cannot be repaid for allowing us to make it this far, and to free Barovia from the curse that made it hell. Only 4 of us managed to leave Barovia after attending Eva's funeral on our way. Ezmerelda, Eerika, Marushka, and myself all passed through the Mist, and found ourselves back on the docks of Waterdeep where I originally took passage on a vessel to Barovia. I.. didn't get an opportunity to see of Moira made it out alive - for when last we saw, the land of Barovia was literally ripping itself asunder. It feels heavy on my heart to know that of all of us who left together, I was the only one to return. On the upside of things, I've never seen Marushka so happy. Big city, large taverns, so many stories to hear and tell... I can't express in words how I feel to have finally freed her of that place. She began telling me of the stories and songs she would write for the others, and I thought it a fitting tribute to them. Many legends are told from bards as they travel the land and exchange stories with others. I couldn't ask for a better ending for them than to be immortalized in story and song to be passed down through the generations. We haven't yet dealt with mine own curse yet, but it would be something we shall discuss. There are plenty of people, now that we are back in Faerun, who can break the curse of lycanthropy. I may keep the scar, however. My wife seems to see it was a reminder of things we went through together, and how far I was willing to go for her. I like that. I know not where our lives will go from here. I suspect I shall take Marushka to see Faerun and show her a world more exciting than I could explain. She has a far better gift for words than I, and I probably did the sites no amount of justice in trying to entire her with leaving Barovia so long ago. I look forward to our adventures together going forward. Hopefully some fucking whackjobs don't try to revive Strahd or something stupid like that. I'm so fucking done with that shit.

The Heart of the Matter
Session 25 Jun 19, 2021

Allow me to recount events up until this point, for fear that I may lose myself by night’s end… We awoke from our rest and began exploring the rest of the castle, in search of the Heart of Sorrow. To be quite honest, I don’t recall much of what transpired during the day. Or, what we took for our “day” in this place. The moon still shone red outside, and the party went to great lengths to shield me from its light for fear I may transform and begin rampaging here in the castle; or worse, against them. I can’t blame them, if I’m being honest. I once hog tied Erkki and cut him with a silvered sword just to test if he’d become infected, and here I am having willingly taken the curse upon myself. What kind of man becomes the thing he hunts? I suppose.. I was scared, really. For the first time in my life, I felt like I had something to lose. Some one to lose. And I wanted more power to protect her. Sergei promised to come to us in our hour of need, but to be honest I don’t know how much faith I put into that. When we got up, we found a vampire was watching us, and quickly ran away back to Strahd. Esmeralda was tracking it with some arcane ability, but lost sight of it when it entered a room where Strahd was waiting. We searched for things as we went after them, coming across a few items of note. Not wanting to engage the vampire lord until we’d dealt with the Heart, we used the staircase to change floors instead. We found ourselves on the main floor, as I’d come to call it; the same floor we were on when he invited us to his castle for dinner. His great hall where we know the fragment of Mordenkainen’s staff remained. Strahd arrived before we could take it, before we made it into that room, even. I had devised a new counter for the vampire this time; one that he truly never expected. Throwing open my water skins that we had filled with Holy Water back in the pools under Krezk, I summoned a wall of wind to suck up the water and keep Strahd pinned. The wind would prevent him from turning into mist, and hurt him grievously as the acid-like Holy Water swirled within the wind like a hurricane. The group managed to counter his attempts to teleport free, but a final casting uncountered saw him switch places with Oren, freed from my trap. He fleed once he had the chance, having been caught unawares by our guile. We recovered the staff fragment from a compartment beneath the vampire’s throne. The front door had been open and then sealed again, apparently saving Moira from imminent death. Kasimir was picked up by some winged beast and flown off with; I don’t know if I’ve ever met a man with worse luck than he. I was led around through most of the castle wrapped in furs and blankets, shielding me from the light of the moon. I didn’t mind, for the most part. Eventually, the heat became too much for me and I threw the articles off of me for relief. We were before the heart, and the floor was covered by a thin layer of red.. “ooze”. The others didn’t know what it was, but it was a danger that I was familiar with given my family’s line of work. It was an Oblex; a more dangerous type of ooze than a mere gelatinous cube. We managed to stab the heart and destroy it, just before the creature below our feet awoke and tried to come after us. Thankfully, the wall of force we put in place held it at bay long enough for us to escape without an encounter with the creature. With no real other goal beyond our final confrontation with Strahd, I proposed we all go back down to the crypts and rest within the Sanctuary there before we engage Strahd again. It it here that I will end this entry.

To Marushka:

I’m sorry. Let me say that first. I love you. I know you’ve been upset with me since I took the Stoyanavich curse upon myself, and I never really gave you an explanation. Allow me to do so now. I have not been very outspoken about my family back in Faerun, and the reason for that is simple: I no longer have any. I have not told you about your new in-laws, because they have already been put to rest. I have no further family to introduce you to in the event we make it out of Barovia alive. To be frank, I took the job to escort Elaine and Bryndon because I had nothing left. I had not even the desire to make the best with the rest of my life. I was a pain in the ass, and a drunkard. It was the lure of the Borgermeister’s money that made me come here. To that end, I give thanks to the fates for having baited me so. For if not, I would not have met you. I know I gave you a lot of shit when we first met. How you rebuked my own achievements, and thought me a liar when I told you we arrived by boat. I was by your side, leading you safely through this hell, and yet still you seemed to pine for other, "better", hunters. I was jealous, of course. A beautiful woman as a traveling companion and she seemed to fawn over those she would deem your “betters”. You made me want to be better. You made me realize that the name of Belmont was not dead. You made me want to be a man worthy of you. Because of that, of the future I dream of with you, and the desire to see you escape this nightmare that has become your life, I felt fear for the first time since I was a child. I once again felt like I had something to lose. And for everything that I am, I fear that I am not enough. I am a hunter of beasts and werewolves, this you know. Knowing the creatures as I do, I know also the power they posses. The power they can grant. It it why so many lesser men succumb lycanthropy. But I chose it willingly in this way, because I wanted the power to protect you. To walk with you into a new world and make new stories with you, and experience adventures the likes you’ve only ever read in a book, or perhaps been told by another around a fire. I need to know I can control this curse, and make it mine. So that I might wield it as a weapon against our enemies. To this end, I have decided not to wait until the last minute to find out how the change will affect me. I leave behind my affects, all of them, to you. I hope to return and reclaim them so I might aid you all in the fight against Strahd, but should the probable happen and I lose myself to the beast I’ve become.. Pray, take up my arms and let them serve you well. I have shown you how to use them. Take also on your person the fragment of staff we recovered. It still has a small amount of magic within, and will allow you a cast of Wall of Force daily. I am confident in myself, for once, thanks to you. I will not say goodbye here, because I do not believe this the end. No, I say ‘See you later.’ I believe I will return, and we will see this all through to the end together. I look forward to rebuilding the Belmont family with you. Yours, Trevor, of House Belmont

Grave Robbing and the trouble with Undead.
Session 24 May 22, 2021

So, we ended up taking that longer rest, as I expected. Marushka and I shared a crypt with Oswald and Kasimir, still barely able to be protected by Leomund's Tiny Hut that Elaine had become so fond of. Elaine, Bryndon, Eerika and our new friend Oren took a crypt adjacent but still within the 'hut' so that we wouldn't all be cramped together in a single one. At some point, someone woke me up to inform me that there was a black cat sitting outside the dome of the 'hut', looking at us. I really thought nothing of it, at first, but I woke Marushka once the cat dispelled the Tiny Hut and approached us. Surprisingly, the cat was not hostile. Instead, it was almost helpful, offering to sell us potions and some other wares. We bought.. I think all of the healing potions, it had? Oswald, in his naivety, thought it was a good idea to buy a bag of holding off the cat for a paltry sum of 50 gold. I never had an interest or eye for the market on magical items, but even I know that was way too cheap a price for an item of such notoriety. Once free of its wares, the cat went about its way, just as quickly as it had appeared. We all went back to our places to finish our rest. Once we were up and resumed our exploration of these catacombs, we investigated a crypt that was inscribed "Beloved Wife", in a crypt besides a man someone recalled as being the architect of castle Ravenloft itself. Inside, we found the wife was pristinely preserved, with a stake planted deep into her chest and leaving her in a state of unending torpor. It raised a lot of questions, and before doing anything further in here, we decided to go check upon the architect himself. Marushka cast a spell so we could ask the corpse a few questions, and we learned that his wife was not a vampire. I don't remember the other questions, as I went back to the prior crypt and beheaded the hapless vampire as she slept. One less to possibly bother us later. With some sort of agreement that everyone should be allowed to pick a crypt for opening (honestly just so Bryndon would shut the hell up), he picked and found one with a failed demilich; a skeleton that had gems for its eyes and amber teeth. Wanting to keep the body, or at least not sit here and desecrate it further, he stuffed it within Oswald's new bag of holding. Like something out of a nightmare, the skeleton climbed out of the bag of holding and offered up Bryndon a staff, which we soon identified as a Staff of Power. Of course Bryndon wanted to keep it right away, so I told him to give the Staff of Frost I offered him prior and give it to Marushka, so that she may have some utility and not feel like her abilities were being underutilized. The skeleton faded to dust and gems, which we kept of course. Exploring further, we searched another crypt and found a skeleton dipped in gold which we also decided to keep. This, too, was stuffed in the bag. The next crypt had a far more ominous inscription, one that put my wife firmly on caution. "Here lies Marushka Belmont", it read. She adamantly did not want to look inside, but to be completely fair I can't blame her. Bryndon decided to open the room, just to see what kind of trick Strahd may be playing with us regarding this. In precaution, I cast Protection from Evil and Good on her, as well as put her in a Magic Cirle. I know I have little in the way of magic, but to protect her, I'd use it all. When Bryndon steps inside, kicking open the door, they found a decayed corpse on a marbled slab, looking exactly like Marushka in her current clothes. It occured to me then, that we had encountered such a thing not long after we arrived in these lands. As I was leading us through the forests of this place towards the town of Barovia, Bryndon had a glimpse of himself as a corpse; impaled upon a stake and looking just as dead as "Marushka" did now. When I told the others of this, Kasimir suggested that perhaps it was another curse of the land. That one who looks upon their own corpse is marked for death. Who knows if it it true, but I know Marushka did not at all turn to look inside, for her superstition about such things far outweighed any curiosity she may have had on the subject. We passed a few others, and Elaine entered a crypt with a skeleton that had a polished skull. Only knowing that there was some sort of necromancy magic in the room, they decided to take just the polished skull and leave it. They found the magic faded as they left the room, so they brought it back in and decided to ask it a few questions. It was an onery bitch, and was completely unhelpful in answering any of our questions. The next crypt was just completely filled with mold, and we decided not to enter. The one after that contained the body of a Dusk Elf High Priest, beloved by Strahd's parents. Extravagant the crypt was, but we took nothing from it. "We knew him only by his wealth" the next crypt read. Eerika opened the door and stepped in. The door slammed closed behind her and she fell into a pit of spikes. Thankfully her armor protected her from being skewered on the spot, and she managed to climb her way to safety, having pulled a scroll off a corpse she found down there as well. We passed another crypt, something about a gate, but went past it as well. Another crypt named Sir Klutz we investigated, but Oswald did not want to fight the skeleton in single combat, so we moved on. The next crypt was labeled "The Hellborne". We opened the crypt and found a large sarcophagus over 7' long and made of lead and beaten gold. As well, "protecting" the sarcophagus was a little imp. He was rather unhelpful, all in all, but the mouthy little shit was getting on our nerves. Bryndon ended up killing the creature, returning it to its native plane and we continued onward. A few more crypts were bypassed as well. Then there was another one.. Stoyana-something or other. Unimportant really. Temporary lycanthropy, those loved most = most succulent flesh, yadda yadda. Not too important. Carrying on... We ended up at a portcullis that barred our way from proceeding forward, and came up with a plan to quietly get it opened. Kasimir ended up being teleported outside the front gate of Ravenloft when he opened the portcullis for us, and the rest of us made our way in. We found a plain wooden coffin, surrounded by buried vampire spawn. We plan out our actions, trying to determine whether or not Strahd is actually here, and end up sending in Oren by himself to check the coffin, and he silently sneaks around the walls of the room. Opening it, he finds the body of Strahd and attempted to stake him with the silver stake I had picked up earlier. The stake shatters against a barrier of force, unknown to us protecting the vampire, and Oren deftly moved aside just barely avoiding the black estoc that appeared behind him, trying to impale him. With Strahd awakening as well as the group of spawn, Elaine finished casting Dawn as well, lighting up the very dark crypt with pure sunlight, even underground. The fight began in earnest and we quickly found our newest ally Oren turned against us, likely due to Strahd's magic. I immediately stepped in to strike at Strahd with his own whip, in my mind wanting to give him a scar much like he gave to me. The battle turned into a shit show almost immediately. Oren became charmed at some point and attacked Elaine. A lightning bolt destroyed some spawn and exploded Strahd's coffin, which was a great set back against Strahd. Disarming Bryndon of the Staff of Power, Marushka attempted to retrieve it so as to keep it from Strahd, and in retalliation he dropped her with a Finger of Death spells. Before I could do anything to help, the vampire spawn swarmed me. At some point Bryndon decided to make a deal with Strahd for his phylactery. Instead, Strahd tells him to leave the staff and choose 1 person to die and he will allow the rest to leave. So of course Bryndon says my name. In turn, Strahd unleashed a series of four attacks with his black estoc at me, and everything went black as I fell to the ground. I awoke some time later, recovered by a healing spell from Marushka. I'm not sure how long I was out for, but when I awoke Strahd was gone, and so was Bryndon. I'm told Bryndon actually broke the Staff of Power and attempted to destroy Strahd with it, but it was unsuccessful. I'm not sure if he is dead, but his phylactery disappeared from my person, and he was no where to be found. We made our way to a room off to the side from a white staircase, and we decided to take a rest here. I finish this entry here, very tiredly resting with my beloved and looking forward to a good long rest. I will be better prepared next time. I will not suffer this defeat again. Next time we finish this.

Love in the time of Vampirism
Session 23 May 15, 2021

Despite having given this book away to Mrs. Belmont, she returned it to me shortly after, mostly so that I would continue to write in it. I suppose I may as well continue where I left off. ... We continued our journey to Ravenloft riding in Ezmerelda’s wagon for a full day without incident. That was fortunate. It was during our second day of travel that shit really hit the fan. The sky went red once more, much like it had when we left the abbey at Krezk after releasing the souls of Tatyana and Sergei. It was Strahd, and he was furious. There appeared a massive wolf on the road, blocking our path. No ordinary wolf, it sized comparable to a horse even as it sat in our way. Ezmerelda tried to drive to the side, to avoid the beast, but it was much swifter than its form would suggest. It ran as we cut to the right, moving to block our path even as we tried to avoid it, only to burst into mist as it plowed into the horses pulling the wagon. It startled the horses, but Ezmerelda and Eerika managed to keep them calm and keep pushing forward. The mist drifted into the wagon itself and materialized as Strahd himself, sitting between Marushka and I amongst our comrades inside the fortified cart. I don’t believe the vampire thought I was as prepared for him as I was, even within the small confines of this space. Immediately I buried a stake into his chest, but he proved resilient to it, using his speed to stay my hand before I could impale him completely. Having been denied, I deftly slammed a flask of holy water into his face, right in the same spot where he had given me my scar. Tit for tat, really. He tried to cast something afterward, but Marushka was ready with a counter spell and promptly denied him the chance. Eerika was in his lap in an instant, hugging the vampire to her to prevent his escape. He tried to wrest free of her grasp, but found even his strength waning against the dwarf’s. Oswald and Kasimir both got some quick shots on him before I ended up casting a daylight spell right inside the wagon with us. The intense light forced him into mist once more, and he dissipated out through the arrow slits of the vehicle. It was around this time that we heard the sound of several dire wolves gaining speed on us, and was shortly about to maul our horses. In our defense, the tiger Blinsky that had been sitting up front with Ezmerelda leapt into the small pack, and fought them off to allow us to escape. Unfortunately, we could hear the tiger’s death cries even as we rode out of sight of Strahd and his beasts. It was a solemn victory, but a victory nonetheless. A reminder, really, that every encounter with Strahd came with death. Thing were quiet for most the rest of the day, but we eventually came to a stop at that beginning of the cliffs that led up to Castle Ravenloft. It was at this time that Kasimir went to go find some caves he had memories of; a passage into the Castle that was a far better alternative to storming the front gates. While he was off doing that, and even after he returned, I had done quite possibly the hardest thing of my life. I asked Marushka to marry me. Right then. Of course.. while Oswald had told me some time ago that he could perform such a ceremony, I had not yet.. actually asked for her hand prior. So, right then and there, I asked her to be my wife. The why of which I shall not reiterate here, but I feel the entry I’ve added to this book specifically for her covers it clearly. Much to my delight, she said yes! Though I’m sure the first line of this entry rather gave that away, didn’t it? I gave her this journal as a token of my devotion, having nothing else of value to give. I knew she treasured stories, and this was one I thought she should have; one that predated even our first meeting. Kasimir, however, gave me his wife’s ring to give to her as well, which I would argue was a far better gift than I had given her. Elven in make, and equally elegant, it suited her well. Oswald and Kasimir rather chastised me a bit for not having gotten a ring on my own, but I ask you, when and where would I have gotten one? Kasimir ended up performing the ceremony on Oswald’s behalf, rather disliking how long the half-orc was taking given the time-sensitivity of what we were about to embark upon. Either we win, or we die here. Kasimir had found the caves he mentioned, and the small group of us headed within to the lowest levels of the castle. Surprisingly, or not, we entered the castle within the dungeons, and found that Bryndon and Elaine was already there, seemingly having just broken out of a cell they were placed in. Having regrouped with the Chandlers, we were quickly beset upon by several powerful vampires. Three of them ended up turning into mist and fleeing, while the two that tried to sneak up behind The Belmonts and Kasimir found a short duration to their immortal existence. I had taken a blow from one of them with an axe, but we battled off the two, and with Marushka keeping them stunned with the power of the Icon of Ravenloft, I staked them and took their heads, ending their parasitic lives. After the battle, Bryndon introduced us to his newest "ally" Oren the Black. A black-scaled Dragonborn who was apparently an assassin of some sort, who had been hired to come here and steal some artifacts. His efforts seemed to be wasted as he ended up down here in the catacombs with the rest of us, but it looks like Bryndon hired his services with the fae dagger he obtained from Baba Lysaga. I'm not one to judge someone by the color of their skin or scales, but black dragons have a history in Faerun. Chromatic dragons in general tend to be evil, following the will of the 5-headed disaster Tiamat, so I had some hesitation with bringing the man on board. Especially knowing he was a thief sent to steal artifacts. Might he try to pilfer from us...? We spent much time afterward exploring many of the tombs that remained down here, including one that contained Strahd’s Nightmare. The demon horse kind, not.. just a bad dream. Fearing something terrible, I had erected a magic circle around the tomb, preventing any evil creature fleeing it. As Eerika removed the huge stone slab that functioned as it’s door, we wasted no time in attacking the beast. Unfortunately, I’m hardly one to be potent with such magics, and the horse was able to free itself and, we believe, go right to Strahd. Well, we weakened it, at any rate. One tomb was named "Saint Markovia", and when opened, contained only a thigh bone on a stone slab. None of us entered save for Oswald, and he took the bone. I expected some sort of trap, but apparently it worked out to be a truly divine weapon for him; some sort of club. Our blood went cold for a moment as we passed by one tomb in particular, an all-too familiar name engraved upon the door: Patrina Velikovna. It belonged to Kasimir's sister. We decided to enter, but Kasimir gave us no qualms about it. Perhaps he, too, was interested in what Strahd may have laid to rest in Patrina's tomb. What we found was the remains of her body, mangled and twisted as it was, and apparently now a banshee. Upon seeing its brother, it let out such a horrific scream unlike any I had ever heard. Marushka fell to the ground, along with Kasimir and Oswald. Of course, my instinct was to rush to my new wife's side, but something else had caught my attention. Our newest "friend" rushed to Oswald's body, and began searching him quickly. He pulled a healing potion out of the half-orc's breastplate, and quickly made him drink it. I was suspicious, but he may have saved Oswald's life. Indeed, it his Oren's quick action that brought Oswald back, who was then able to revive Kasimir. Unlike the others, who simply fell unconscious due to the banshee's scream, Kasimir had actually died from his sister's wail. We found that Oswald had been keeping one divine spell prepared should he have need to bring someone back to life in this gods-forsaken place. Just.. Kasimir was the first one to die in front of us and leave a corpse. Errki fell to his death in the chasm beneath Argynvostholt. Elaine passed before he had learned the spell, but had returned to us. Van Richten gave his life in a Trial of Argynvostholt as well, and could not be revived. We could not stop to save Blinsky. Izek Strazni had been decapitated by Strahd and we only saw his head. This place was extremely unforgiving indeed. Thankfully, Oswald was able to save Kasimir. I healed Marushka with a healing spell, my weak talents for magic not withstanding, and brought her back to consciousness as well. We took a few hours to rest, and I write this entry now. I believe we may end up taking a long rest here, though I know not how safe that may actually be. I'm not sure of how well the rest of this will or can go. Bryndon tells us that the city of Barovia itself has fallen, and even Ireena's brother Ismark has been turned into a vampire spawn. The odds certainly feel against us, but I will fight to get as many of us out of here as possible. I must admit, I took some joy in knowing the two vampires we fought with identified me on sight. “Our master speaks of the Belmont balefully” or some such, I believe one of them said. It was working, then. My work of pissing off Strahd was getting to him. I’m sure our encounter the day before within the vistani’s armored wagon just solidified for the vampires how much of a threat the Belmont’s were. Even in this distant land of Barovia, the name Belmont will make the creatures of the night shiver.

A Vow
Special Entry

Dear Marushka, I write this to you specifically though it is rather unorthodox in that I have written it within my personal journal. We have a custom in Faerun when people are to be wed that involve an exchanging on rings. I have not such a thing on my person, and we have not the time to go find some, given that even now we potentially ride to our deaths. Instead, I wanted to give you this journal as a token of my love. I find it easier by far to write my feelings to parchment than say them aloud, which I’m sure you’re aware of by now. For whatever degree of “nobility” my family’s name may carry back in Faerun, I’m glad at the least that I was taught properly to write as a child. The quill is ever so much more talkative than lips, I find. Mine own, at least. I dedicate this journal to you as a symbol of my love. A chronicle of my time here in Barovia, and all the events that led me to you. The way we seemed to argue and bicker when we first met seems so long ago to me now, but my heart feels only the now. All the things I’ve not spoken aloud since we met are written here for you to read, and I hope in the time that comes we can look fondly back upon these pages and remember not that which we have lost since my arrival, but that which we have gained. While considered a curse to be trapped here, I call a blessing. A blessing tempered by the cruelest nightmare and devilry the world has ever known. Your excitement in the closing of Sergei and Tatyana’s story spoke volumes, and I hope to prove to you that such a love it not just the stuff of stories and legends. I know not what fate awaits beyond the day of this writing, but I know that whatever it shall be, we shall endure and experience it together. I know I’m not much of bardic material, and my eloquence with the quill is far surpassed by your own, so allow me to finally just state this plainly. I love you, Marushka Dragomir. Forever yours, Trevor Belmont

What Goes On In The Dark (Powers)
Session 22 Apr 24, 2021

Let me preface this by saying nothing I’d so far encountered in this godsforsaken land could have prepared me for today. Not even the events of yesterday. I was awoke sometime in the early hours of the morning by Marushka, usually something I’d be welcome to see any other day, but as soon as she woke me, she began asking me question after question. I took it she had been awake for several hours at this point, unable to sleep with everything going on in her mind. I can’t say I blame her. She began to speak of more personal things, and of course, about why I came to the temple. The truth of it was far more simple than what I told her, for a feared she’d admonish me for the truth. Why was I suddenly worried about her thoughts of my motives? I care for her, is the obvious answer, though the one I have extreme difficulty admitting aloud. Finally amidst her questions I let slip what I was trying to hide. She asked me why I never said anything before. I don’t recall the non-committal answer I gave her, but the truth was that I was afraid. I didn’t want to let something like that slip, and be vulnerable. What if you didn’t feel the same? What a fool I’d be, and we still have so much more time to travel together before this ends, one way or another. I tried to hold my face in such a way as to cover the scar Strahd gave me, but she moved my hand away. It was.. comforting. She didn’t shy away, or even grimace at the sight of it. She didn’t come out and say she felt the same way, but that might be because Elaine’s creepy dead-ass was just sitting there in the dark listening to us. I swear one of these Chandlers are going to be the death of me. We just sort of sat together on the bed for awhile until the rest of the party awoke and we finally descended the stairs after Kasimir and Adrostos. We made our way into a large chamber that contained many of the, what I surmise to be, amber sarcophagi. A massive construct of a knight holding what appeared to be a glaive stood sentry in front of a door that was small even in the space between the legs of the statue. The door itself was flung open, and we could see Kasimir and Adrostos battling in the next room. Eerika and I snuck though (I have no idea HOW), whilst the other 4 teleported the distance. The statue turned at that; I believe detecting the use of magic within the chamber. Still under the effects of Marushka’s invisibility spell, I took the time to go exploring the chambers relatively undisturbed. I left the others to deal with the fallout of the two men. I honestly believe Adrostos stood no chance if Kasimir sincerely desired to kill the man to get what he wanted, and I had no love loss for Adrostos at this point all things considered. Now I was come to the real reason I came. The voice. The voice of the Hunter I heard back under Krezk had told me to speak with it again here in exchange for the free passage it had granted us earlier. Of course I understood it could very well be a dark power, but all the more reason to uphold my end of our deal, yes? All it asked was to speak, and so I would. I went around touching the various sarcophagi and listening to the words they spoke in my mind. Eventually I found the one I had spoken to prior, and it offered me the power over beasts. It was.. tempting. But only just so. I already felt myself accomplished in my profession, and I was quite capable of handling every time of beast I had yet come across. But more than that.. I made you a promise, didn’t I? And true to my word, I declined its offer. I did not even ask for the powers’ cost. It did not matter. The only deal I would have accepted would have been one that guaranteed your safety. I care not to lose you as we have lost the others. I will do anything to prevent that. During the commotion of it all, I went back into the prior room, and studied the gigantic construct for any weakness should it awaken further and prevent us from leaving. I heard that vampire appear again, apparently from one of the sarcophagi in the furthest room. I kept an ear open for any signs that a fight with it was about to break out, but thankfully none did. I saw not what happened next, but my other senses caught it plainly. Adrostos sacrificed himself to bring someone back, still unknown as to whom, only that it would be his lover. I heard the last breath of Bryndon escape his body and felt the hairs on my neck raise as I sensed an undead horror rise in his place. I shan’t forget the feeling. Like the lich whose bedroom we’d been borrowing above us, I felt the same presence now where Bryndon once was. It was only a few moments later when Marushka and Eerika came out of that room, both practically in tears, and the three of us went back upstairs. I unabashedly put my arms around Marushka now, to comfort her even in some small way, knowing how the “death” of two of her companions would affect her, and now also Eerika who looked a level of distraught I’d never think to see on her always-cheery face. I led them both upstairs to the bedroom and let the girls just rest and deal with what they had just witnessed. As something of a test, I picked up a nearby book and scooped some of the old lich’s ashes into it, then chucked the book into the teleportation circle that still sat upon the floor in here. It disappeared, but unfortunately I was not able to detect it elsewhere to hopefully track where it led. Dissatisfied with my test, I went back to Marushka to hold her further. For my own comfort this time, as well as hers. It didn’t take much longer for Elaine, Bryndon, Oswald, and Kasimir to come back up the stairs. Bryon had already began losing his previous physical form and begun his transformation into a lich. Indeed, he was already walking on new skeletal legs that grew from his stumps. In the discussion that followed, Elaine decided to take it upon herself to see where the teleportation circle went, and stepped in before anyone could stop her. It was only moments later when I received a magical message from her stating she was in Strahd’s grand hall. Lovely. In what at this point seemed like an odd burst of compassion from Bryndon, he pleaded and argued that we follow to save his sister. Normally, I would have agreed, but the events downstairs took its toll on the lot of us, especially the magic users. Simply put, we would need to rest and recooperate before we would be ready to encounter Strahd. I gave my opinion as such to the group, and everyone agreed. Everyone except Bryndon. Dissatisfied with my answer, he stepped into the circle to follow his sister. I know the desire to jump head-long into danger to save a loved one, but this was not a journey we could rush into crossbows blazing. We could do nothing more but rest at this point, and leave this place afterward. At the entrance to the temple, I disoriented the Roc long enough for Kasimir to cast fly on us and we flew down the side of the mountain with expedience. We made our way East towards Castle Ravenloft, only to encounter Ezmerelda once more. She welcomed us and gave us passage in her armored wagon. It would cut days off our journey. And at the least we’d have a safe and defensible place to rest on our way. On the eve of our first night I write this, with Marushka sitting beside me, resting against me as I her. I will get us out of here, or die trying. One way or another, I’m not leaving your side.

I don't even have words for this bullshit.
Session 21 Apr 10, 2021

We left the Vistani to their own devices with some promise that we could return to rest if we required it. Helpful, I suppose. As we proceeded through the antechamber before us, a large statue at the end of the room attacked us, getting the jump on us by casting a chain lightning spell. Thankfully Oswald was prepared and managed to counterpsell it before it could harm any of us. Little did I know that this would be a prelude of things to come. I moved to block Marushka from the creature's line of sight, needing some time to get a read on it and work out a plan of attack. Something... happened, then. I can't explain what it was. Visions flooded my mind.. memories? I can't recall. They all felt so distant. So long ago. I could hear a voice but could make out no words. I care not to reiterate the visions here on parchment, but they disturbed me. For what seemed like a brief moment to me had apparently ended up a deal of time later. When I came to my senses, I was welcomed by the sight of a large demon casting a spell where the "statue" once stood, seemingly being held at bay by Kasimir. Adrostos lay prone on the ground a little ways behind the demon, and scorch marks covered the room around his body. Eerika was no where to be seen. Marushka was still around where I remember her being, though on the other side of the pillar I was using to help conceal her. I was on the opposite side of the room from where I remember being, and under the effects of an Invisibility spell. I could only assume that was of Marushka's doing. I wish I could let her know how much it means to me that she seems to think of my safety as much as I think of hers. Oswald was near me as well, holding off the statue from earlier in a corner of the room, and Bryndon was hiding behind a pillar to support him with magicks. Elaine showed herself to me soon after by teleporting with Adrostos next to Marushka in order to get him healed. I saw Piddlewink on either side of the statue creature, apparently torn in half and left for dead. Without knowing of Eerika's whereabouts, I gathered my wits and turned towards the statue creature who seemed unaware of my presence. I withdrew my old whip along with the new, and began wailing on the creature with a zeal that bordered on fury. I wanted it all to stop. Why had I lost that time? In the middle of combat, no less?! I was angry at myself, mostly. Was it Strahd? Perhaps some other dark power here within this place? Would such a being have such ease of clouding my mind in the future? I dare not dwell on the answers. From what I gathered, Kasimir's efforts to prevent the demon (how the fuck had it even arrived? Summoned by the statue..?!) from casting the spell it had been since I regained my senses proved to be futile, and it tossed a ball of arcane energy into the room. The energy turned a sickly green and curved around the pillar being used as a shield, and slammed into Bryndon's lower body. His scream will probably haunt me for years to come. When the energy dissipated, Bryndon lay on the ground, leg-less from his upper thighs down. The smell was horrendous. The demon had conjured so much energy to cast the spell that it un-summoned itself by doing so. Eerika suddenly burst (back?) into the room, coming from what seemed to be a chamber at the back of the room that I couldn't see before. As Oswald and I (and perhaps Elaine?) continued our relentless attacks on the statue creature, it eventually fell. It was.. somber, as we regrouped. Bryndon was alive, but just barely. I was certain that had Marushka not given him some added constitution when this started, the boy would be dead. Given everyone else's reactions to Eerika, she was apparently also slain during my blackout. Seems that the arrow slits we noticed before proceeding into the room had spellcasters up there and they let loose with a series of fireballs that killed Eerika and downed Adrostos. But yet here she was, alive and.. seemingly well? As the party interrogated her, I learned that the creepy dwarf-obsessed vampire that had taken Errki's body was here, and had retrieved Eerika as well. She made some sort of agreement with him in exchange for him casting a spell to revive her. The deal involved some newly branded glyphs burned into her skin around her neck like a necklace. I stepped over to Marushka and wrapped my arms around her. I was glad she was unhurt. Physically, at least. No telling how much more all of this was compounding on her mind. I wanted to give her some comfort, ease some of her pain, but it seemed the time would not be given to me to do so. The doors at the back of the room opened, and the others sought to leave this room as soon as possible. I can't blame them, to be honest. I felt that Marushka wanted to return to the safety of the small room being guarded by the Vistani, but there was some trepidation amongst the group about going back. Staying close, we proceeded into the next room. So of course we walked straight into the bedchambers of a lich. Thankfully for us all, the lich had become so old and had gone so long without rejuvenating its phylactery that it had become more apathetic than me on my drunkest day. It offered us a respite and allowed us to recover in its room, having no desire to deal with our party. I immediately stepped over to the bed that was still in good-looking condition in the room and dusted it off so that I could relax on it. I was just about to pull Marushka aside so we could talk when Adrostos dropped Bryndon's unconscious body onto the bed as well. Thanks, Ajackass. As the others began questioning the lich, I picked up ~~Lieutenant Dan~~ Bryndon and placed him in a nearby empty chair to rest instead. As talks with the lich ceased and the group began discussing our next steps, I noticed that Oswald had locked his gaze on the lich, and the lich likewise. It was not a look of hatred, which wouldn't surprise me of a paladin in the presence of an evil such as a lich, but more a look of held attention. They were talking. At one point the lich even presented its phylactery to Oswald in what I could only assume was a sign of good faith. It didn't take long for the rest to notice this exchange and then everyone's attention was back on the lich and Oswald. I swear, I'm going to have to learn a sending or messaging spell if I ever want to speak to Marushka again. We learned that the lich offered to heal Bryndon's legs if Oswald would bring it a soul, any soul - it even suggested one of the Vistani hiding near the entrance, and Oswald was considering it. The moral dilemma was of course going around the party and around this time Bryndon was starting to come around to consciousness. It was around this time that the Dwarfpire showed up, and I offered its soul to the lich to fullfill its deal. The vampire was confused and the lich was intrigued. It told me that it likely would not be agreeable to the vampire. My rebuttal was that its agreeability was not a part of the deal. Our part was to "bring a soul". And here we had. A discussion broke out amongst everyone, and a lot of caution about being caught up in the battle between this lich and vampire may not be best for our party given our current state. Well, that was pretty accurate. I was the only one uninjured, thanks to Marushka. Pretty soon the conversation shifted to the vampire talking to us about the traps he had set and whether or not he should let us go, wanting to be freed from this prison as much as the rest of us. Through some discussion on the topic, I ended up managing to convince the vampire to remove the glyphs on Eerika that allowed him to control her completely. How he fucking fell for it I have no idea, but if it isn't broken, don't fix it. The vampire gone, we decided not to trust the lich, and Elaine struck at its phylactery with a magic missile spell, and Eerika tackled the orb to the ground, shattering it and causing the lich to vanish. Now it was gone as well. We had finally all decided to get some rest, and Elaine made another Tiny Hut for us to be safe in. At some point I don't know when, both Kasimir and Adrostos slipped away from us and proceeded further into the Amber Temple, likely in some rush to make a deal with the dark powers. From what I gather, both of them are trying to revive a loved one. I guess neither wanted to let the other get that "blessing" before them and they snuck away. Whatever. I just want to get out of here with my treasure and go deal with Strahd...

The Beast of Mount Baratok
Session 20 March 19, 2021

Having left the Abbey at Krezk, we didn't bother to go back into the city proper. Who knows how the citizens may react when they find out their "Abbot" is dead. If they don't already. I didn't plan to stick around and find out. We argued about trying to find some warmer clothes or torches or whatever we could scrounge from the abbey, but decided to leave the crazed children inside as they are. I gave my fur cloak to Marushka, seeing as she wasn't quite.. dressed for the climate. We traveled north towards where we figured the Amber Temple to be, knowing it was up in the mountains north of us, and was protected by the Beast of Mount Baratok. I wasn't too sure what to expect of it. No one we'd encountered could tell us what the beast actually was; I largely suspect it has to do with the number of people who've lived to tell about it after encountering it. Still, we braced ourselves and headed north into the mountains through the cold, determined to see this to the end. We started up the mountain proper after some time, and spent the rest of the day trudging through the snow. By now the temperatures had dropped sharply, and most of us carried torches for warmth. After some time, we came across a wider section of the path that could accommodate Leomund's Tiny Hut, we decided to make camp there for awhile. From what I could tell, the first two watches went mostly uneventful, save for the appearance of several mountain goats, who seemed to be looking down at our snow-covered dome. This apparently disturbed the Chandlers, who woke me up to tell me about the goats arrival. Before the others could even go to sleep, and allow me some time to speak with Marushka as I had intended to talk with her about some things, a loud roar pierced the air and a massive creature went past the goats, grabbing several of them and throwing the others off the mountains like rag dolls. It was then that I understood exactly what the Beast of Mount Baratok was: a Roc. A massive bird with a 200 foot wing span. A creature so powerful it can create hurricane-force winds with the beat of its wings. The movement of its passage over us left chunks of tree, stones, snow and even small animals in its wake. There went my day. We woke the others and appraised them all of the situation. This was bad. A large beast wouldn't typically worry me. But a large bird protecting a mountain like this? It has every advantage against us. We didn't have too many options, but we worked with what we could. I used my enhanced senses to keep track of the Beast while the others made a makeshift sled out of what materials we could scavenge from the Beast's wake. We distracted it with a goat Bryndon levitated, and then used the paladin's horses to pull us on the sled while it was distracted. It worked, for exactly 5 seconds. Big bird eat big food. Small goat is just a snack. It chased us of course, and not only did we have to contend with the fierce winds coming from the Beast, but we also had to get the horses to ride in tandem, and.. well.. Adrostos' steed wasn't exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer, if you catch my meaning. A spoon is sharper. So we had to manage dealing with the two horses trying to ride in synch while also keep us all steady on a makeshift sled while ALSO trying not to fall off the narrowing path we were traveling on. I honestly don't remember how long we traveled for. I recall at some point "Elaine" fell off the sled but teleported herself back onto it. Thankfully I can sense her presence and the Beast's at the same time. Eventually we came to another place where we could rest, and Eerika thought she could sense some sort of tunnel nearby. I know not the relationship dwarves have with stone. Honestly I don't care to. Surprisingly, Eerika actually did find a tunnel through the mountain. That was lucky. I think we rested briefly in the tunnel, as well? It's hard to remember. Things get rough after that. We came to the end of the tunnel, though Eerika believed the wall before us wasn't quite so thick, and could feel air coming through from the other side. Taking her at her word, I just pointed at the wall and said "Eerika?" and she went charging into the rocks as I knew she would. Turns out she was right! She burst through the rock with little effort, but went tumbling down to the ground below. Turns out the tunnel ended on the side of a cliff face over looking a valley hidden within these mountains. I tossed Eerika a rope to help her get back up so we could gather ourselves before proceeding further. About 300 to 400 feet on the other side of the valley from us was a ~~ranch~~ small little church, or temple. It really wasn't much to look at. However, our presence was noticed by a goat that was somehow out here as well, and it let out a loud bleat that seemed to echo 100 times louder within the walls of the valley. As anyone who may be reading these entries by now would know of our luck, the bleating beast alerted the roc to our presence, and the massive bird came flying up and landed on a ridge above the little building. We could see traces of buildings, trees, wagons, and various other large objects that the roc had gathered to create this nest it was now sitting upon. With careful consideration, we decided "Elaine" would teleport herself and Bryndon across the distance, Marushka would take Eerika across the distance, the paladins would make a dash for it on horseback, and Kasimir and I would run it on foot, being much more fleet of foot than the others. When it seemed like the beast was a good distance away, or at least as good as we were going to get, we took off. Kasimir and I had the blessing of Greater Invisibility cast on us, and I likewise cast Silence on myself as further precaution. "Elaine" and Bryndon went across first and the paladins went next, followed swiftly by myself and Kasimir. The four of us split up so as not to be grouped together in case something happens, which of course it did. The Beast came back and brought its winds with it, which was the only sign to me. I didn't realize being in a sphere of 'Silence' that it deafens you to everything outside of it. Distracted as I was to reach my destination and keep an eye on the Beast, I didn't catch what happened to it to cause it to crash land into the valley. It got up and began flailing about, sending powerful gusts of winds all through the area. I noticed, thankfully, and went prone to avoid the worst of it, which worked well. When I stood up, I noticed the beast was thrashing around and making it difficult for me to get past it. Some cloud of darkness was obscuring its face. Thinking on my feet, I took out my long bow and quickly nocked an arrow and let loose an arrow at the goat I had seen before we tried this foolhardy scheme. Thankfully my arrow hit its mark even with the winds, and it (I assume) let out a bleat that gripped the Beast's attention and sent it off after it. Using the distraction, I made my way safely the rest of the distance to the small temple. We all regrouped, some of us looking worse for wear than the rest, but alive. As we stepped into the temple we found nothing but a frozen corpse, clutching a set of mason's tools, and a door. The door had a smell that came off as significantly evil to the paladins, but "Elaine" decided to check it out while we investigated the body. Turns out the monk had been chiseling pictures into the walls, and further on upon a door deeper in the temple that led further down. It was a warning, written in every known language the monk could translate it in to. A warning about the evils that lay deeper within. So we ignored that completely and opened the door, looking inside for answers. Veins of amber spread across the entirety of the room beyond, but a darkness prevented us from seeing into the room with any clarity. We did manage to see some arrow slits up in the rafters, and a door off to our right. We decided to check out the door before trying to traverse the main part of the room. We were met with a door that was barricaded from the other side, and what seemed to be 4 vistani locked within. It took some convincing, but they were part of a small group who lived nearby, who have groups come up to the temple and survive 7 days within the temple without being corrupted by its influence. They initially believed us to be mental tricks of the temple, especially when they saw Marushka first, but eventually believed us and allowed us to come inside and rest awhile. I write this now as we rest, just taking a breather and regrouping after everything that has happened today. We're about to leave soon, I think. Knowing our luck, we'll probably come across some sort of statue that'll shoot lightning at us when we get too close. We'll see.

So that happened.
Session 19 3/13/2021

As dawn broke over the land, or at least what passes for dawn here, we awoke to the sound of an echoing church bell. We gathered our things and continued on towards Krezk, talking about our plans amongst ourselves as we went. Truth be told, I largely ignored what was being said, instead still reflecting on what had happened the day prior. In hindsight, I probably should have been paying attention, but what can you do. When we arrived at the gates of Krezk, we were met by a guard who denied our passage. It was Kasimir who spoke up and suggested speaking to the Burgermeister, followed by Bryndon spouting off some nonsense of being a noble and requesting an audience. Soon we were greeted at the gate by the Burgermeister himself. When we asked for entry, he stated only those who have proven themselves friends of Krezk could enter. Of course, we asked the obvious question and were told that the Burgermeister wants for wine for his city, for they have not seen a shipment in some time. It was at this point we related what we knew about the Wizard of Wines being attacked by a group of druids being the reason for his lack of wine. During the discussion Moira was brought up, and the Burgermeister acknowledged the Hero of the Land Boat, and that she was here already. We asked that she be summoned, as she could vouch for us and our allegiance. She appeared and did indeed vouch for us, even going so far as to tell the man that we could help with his "child problem". Not wanting to explain further, the Burgermeister granted us entry into Krezk. A group of guards surrounded us all and began escorting us through the fog-blanketed city of Krezk. Not "the mist" as we know throughout the rest of Barovia, this was simple fog that rolled down from higher cliffs and covered the city. Hearing a howling, I used my senses to track any beasts and quickly discovered HUNDREDS of beasts swarming all over the city. We were told it was "The Culling" and it happens around this time every year. It turns out the "child problem" the Burgermeister has was that all of his children had died of a sickness, something called "Consumption", and yet claims that the Abbot rid the city of disease some time ago. The Abbot.. this was clearly someone we needed to speak with. But for a city such as this to be as "safe" as it claims, for as long as it claims, what kind of power could this man have? Was it someone Strahd dared not cross? We were told that to survive the Culling, we would need to survive on the streets of Krezk for a night and a day, and then we could see the Abbot. Unable to see or otherwise navigate our way through the fog-laden city, a guide was summoned for us. He was an older man, not quite of old Van Richten's age, but getting up in his years. Impressive, if he lived for so long in a place like this. However, as soon as the old man crossed the threshold of the doorway to lead us out, a beast of some sort sped past the old man, and splattered him across the ground and door like a runaway cart over a tomato. Like the murderhobos our little group has become, they all piled out through the door to confront the beast, steeling themselves for combat. I decided to hang back, and ensure that Marushka stay safe instead. I tied a rope around my waist and and offered her the other end so that she may do the same. I did not want to chance us getting lost or separated in this fog. I wonder if I'm beginning to lose my edge, honestly. Reflecting back on how I was, I was always on the front line of battle, ready with my trusty whip to intercept the foes that threatened my friends. But now.. they have grown in their own right, and I no longer feel the pull to be at the forefront. Whatever we are, I have come to feel the need to make sure Marushka stays alive. Not simply because she's attractive. And talented. And has a good sense of humor when you can draw it out of her, few and far between those times have been. But I truly want her to see the world beyond this pit of Hell. I want her to know that she won't become a hag. It doesn't matter what her lineage is. She's lived in this piece of land like an isolated island unaware of the rest of the world surrounding her. So much for her to see and experience. I want that for her, truly. We confronted a pair of beasts in the street, and dealt with them swiftly. As we proceeded onwards, we decided to check a few houses to see if any were empty, so that we could wait out this "Culling" in relative peace. We found someone who bartered some items for coin with Bryndon, but the boy was short on coin. I deigned to chime in with any coin I had, and so did several others. Someone ended up giving him the money, but I don't remember who. We continued on our way with little impediment, and found ourselves outside of the gate that blocked the path to the Abbey. I had honestly decided that we would wait out the rest of this Culling here, as the Burgermeister stated, but it seems Piddlewink had other ideas. The little flesh muppet took some rope from Oswald and slipped through the bars of the gate, anchoring one end before tossing the other end over the gate. Given the Burgermeister stated there were no "rules" for surviving this Culling, we decided to go with the Fluppet's plan. It was no task getting us all over the gate, and then we made the trek up to the Abbey without incident. There was no fog here, I noticed. Not too surprising, given that fog is heavy and tends to stay low, but it still made this place feel ominous. Oswald, being the beacon of goodliness as he is in this hellhole, approached the doors of the Abbey and knocked, requesting entry. The doors opened a few moments later by a couple of small children from inside. They ran up to Oswald and greeted him warmly, not really regarding the rest of us. It should come as no surprise by now that nothing here was as it seemed. The children led us within to the "Abbot", who was a very young looking man with a small group of children surrounding him, drinking of his blood directly from his arms as if they were vampires. Unlike the types of charms and compulsions we'd seen so far utilized in this land, the children showed no outside sign of being influenced compulsed into this act. We asked for passage onward below the Abbey to find what it was we sought, and the Abbot made no attempt to stop us, thankfully, despite Bryndon's barely restrained resolved not to attack him. As soon as we were out of earshot, or at least we hoped we were, Oswald revealed to us that this "Abbot" was actually a celestial being, called a Deva. I'd faintly recalled such a creature in my studies; not all beasts are creatures of the night, after all. As we made our way further down below, into what used to be the old orphanage and below, the stonework began to change, subtly at first, but it started to resemble what we'd seen in ruins from Faerun. Littering the entire way was the skeletons of children, uncountable at a glance, and it was quickly clear to us that these skeletons were a legion of undead. We thought to leave them undisturbed as much as possible, but Adrostos decided that this would be the perfect time to demonstrate to us his ability to take control of the undead. He ended up taking control of 32 undead children, using them as meat shields and trap-springers as we made our way through the rest of these catacombs. Some fucking paladin he is. Its easy to see why Oswald has such disdain for him as an oathbreaker. As we neared the bottom of the catacombs, "Elaine" detected 3 different traces of magic nearby. An abjuration aura, and 2 sources of divine magic, one vastly more powerful than the other. We deduced that the stronger divine trace was likely that of the Sun Spear, Sergei's famed weapon. Before we proceeded on, Kasimir brought up that if we were to gain possession of the Sun Spear, which we've learned contains the soul of Sergei himself, that perhaps we should have Ireena here with us. We agreed. I.. probably should have mentioned before that the reason Moira was in Krezk at all was because "Elaine" had sent her a message asking her to bring Ireena to Krezk. Marushka wished him safe, and he went off to bring her. As we were deciding on whether or not to simply wait here for the two to return, an ominous voice echoed to us all, saying "Yes.. stay in one spot.." Fuck that. Assuming that the large divine magic presence was in fact the Sun Spear, we decided to check out the other paths while we waited. The path towards the arcane magic was littered with traps, which Adrostos used his small army of undead children to trigger. While I can't argue with the results, I didn't care for the means. What kind of man needs to use undead puppets to do simple tasks such as this? One incapable, in my opinion. But I digress. The end of the pathway lead to a dusty chest, within which we found a large fragment of Mordenkainen's staff. Though separated from the rest of it's form, the staff fragment still contained potent magical power. With the assistance of an Identify spell, we learned that the fragment could be used to cast the Fireball spell once a day. We decided pretty unanimously to have Marushka hold it. Personally, while I don't doubt her ability to use her rapier or defend herself, no one really expects a Bard to let loose a Fireball. I wanted to make sure she had more tools at her disposal to protect herself if something should happen to me. We backtracked and went down the path towards the lesser of the divine magical auras. We found a long hallway of mirrors, not too unlike what he came across inside Argynvostholt. Bryndon learned, this time, and kept his eyes away from reflections, as did we all. The doors at the end of the hall opened, and a small amount of torchlight broke the darkness and began reflecting off the mirrors. An image was being cast through the light, that of an ancient version of Oswald's holy symbol, and the image cast itself upon Oswald's chest. Feeling this was not something the rest of us non-holy folk should bother with, especially not Adrostos, we allowed him to enter alone at his request. Oswald returned shortly with a golden shield held on his back, and it seemed to be causing him pain. It didn't seem to disturb him really, and given what I know of the man for all the time we've been traveling together, this was his religion's sort of thing anyways. Probably why he needed to be the one to retrive the item. When returned to the main chamber, the final path towards the Sun Spear had been taken up by a large... creature? There was enough of a gap to pass by it, but not much. As I stared, trying to get a measure of the beast, it spoke to me in my mind, unheard by any other. It asked me if I wanted to be a great hunter. The greatest hunter, even. With the power to do as I will. While I cannot deny that I want for a power that can rid the world of Strahd and cease this unending nightmare, my experience in this place tells me that such bargains are not what they seem. I asked if I could have some time to think on the decision, to which the creature agreed. It bade me speak to it again in the Amber Temple, and in exchange it would allow our party to pass without harm. I agreed. Not wanting to alarm the others, I simply told them that the creature was asleep, and that we could pass harmlessly. No one challenged my claim, thankfully, and we all passed uneventfully. Except Eerika, who is such an oddity. She left an offering of rations for the creature/statue, and it spoke to her, though she decided to share this with the rest of us, unlike me. Past the thing, we came to another split decision. Left or right. As we discussed, we heard the sound of chittering coming from the left, and the sound of scraping metal coming from the right. We felt the chittering to be the safer of the two options and turned to the left passage only to find a massive swarm of spiders. I immediately turned around and went back to the fork. From what I was told later, Moru was there, bigger than we'd ever seen him previously and also made an agreement with Bryndon to speak again at the Ember Temple. Once he agreed, Moru and the spiders disappeared, but I dared not go down that hallway anyway. I'm not liking how this is shaping up, with dark powers trying to gather us at the Ember Temple. Going right, we found the source of the metal scraping noise: a large flesh golem dragging a huge mallet was patrolling the hallway. In its infinite wisdom, Piddlewink decided to make his presence known once more, and hopped out of Oswald's pouch, and made its way up to the flesh golem. One would believe he may have been somehow trying to commune with the construct, being one himself, but communications must have broken down as the larger golem swung its large hammer and sent Piddlewink sailing back against the wall we had just passed, splattering moisturizer all over the wall before it slumped to the ground. So of course we fought it. We soundly defeated the creature and the others rushed to Piddlewink's side. Somehow, they managed to revive the tiny flesh golem; at least, it wasn't non-functional. Around this time Kasimir and Ireena arrived and of course, wondered about the large creature/statue that blocked most of the earlier passage. We gave no real answer and just continued on. As we continued downward through the catacombs, we began hearing the sound of running water, and soon saw that water was pouring in from some outside source and into the large chamber, eventually running down into a pool several feet wide. In this pool, rested a golden haft, almost 7 feet long, covered in sigils. Being the closest thing to a follow of the Morning Lord among us, Oswald was first to wade into the pool, however he did not go far. Turning, he offered his hand to Ireena, and she seemed extremely pensive to take it. Helpfully, Marushka cast a Calm Emotion spell upon her to help her clear her mind and make her true decision. Then, she took his hand and entered the pool with him. Before she got too far, she seemed to collapse. Oswald caught her, thankfully, but when she stood again, she was different. You could see it in her eyes. The knowledge and insight of several lives, reincarnated over and over, all coalesced into one person. She pulled away from Oswald with a smile, and reached out to grasp the Sun Spear. As her hand wrapped around the haft, a blinding beam of light came down and flooded the pool. Squinting under my fingers, it looked like a figure was within the light, protectively around Ireena- .. I guess Tatyana, now? Soon, the figure manifested in physical form, taking the body he formerly used in life. Sergei von Zarovich stood before us, holding his famed weapon, now adorned at the end with a blade made of pure sunlight. The relic certainly lived up to its name. Sergei spoke then, asking why we have come. We spoke and he judged us worthy of his assistance. He asked that he wield the spear, and be the one to end his brother. He also offered us a choice. A request, really. We could take the weapon, yes, but he asked if we would free him from the weapon, and allow him and Tatyana to be together away from Barovia. It was a decision he would not allow a single person to make, and had us discuss amongst ourselves. Marushka starting going on about true love, and how their love was the stuff of ballads and legends. I didn't care about all of that, but it was surprising to see something she was so passionate about, outside of trying to convince us not to take up arms against every single nightmare she grew up fearing (rationally). I suppose none of us really ever took the time to ask her about such things. Maybe she only thought of me as a physical distraction, and never brought it up. Perhaps she was waiting on me to broach that subject. Either way, that's something I plan to change going forward. For my part, I wanted to make sure things changed in Barovia. I believed, as I still do, that by freeing Sergei's soul and allowing him to abscond with Tatyana that we could finally break her cycle of reincarnation, and possibly put an end to this. At the least, Strahd would no longer terrorize people to convince her to come to him whenever she was reborn. No more peoples needed to be submit to genocide at his whim. It would stop this. Even if we die to Strahd after this, I'll go knowing he no longer has a way to break his curse. I will take away from him the last bit of hope that could ever possibly exist in his heart. I will make him feel the pain of his people that he has brought upon them for so long. I will make him regret ever thinking the House of Belmont would perish so easily. We put it to a vote, and we decided to free Sergei here and now. Only Bryndon disagreed. Worried about needing the Sun Spear to use against Baby Lasagna, of course. The decision made, we gave Sergei our answer and released him from his bonds. Holding close to Tatyana, he said to us that he would come to us in our hour of need, and the two vanished into the light. The Sun Spear lost its blade of light, and it fell back into the pool of water. I retrieved it, as my deal made with Strahd at his dinner invitation asked only for this; he never made clear it was the Sun Spear he was looking for. Either he would keep his end of the deal, or it would be an insult to him. Either way, I was willing to see the result. We camped by the pool that night, filling any possible vessels we had with its sanctified water. I had the cheeky idea of asking Marushka if she’d ever done it in a pool of holy water before, but something kept the thought from leaving my mouth. The night went by uneventfully and we made our way back up to the Abbey without incident. When we encountered the Abbot once more, Kasimir decided to banish the celestial being rather than fight it. Probably one of the smartest decisions ever made. We exited the Abbey, and we could tell things were not right. We heard a howl of pain and rage on the wind, and the sky began to change. Strahd knew. We knew he would be more furious than ever now. As we thought upon our next destination, I could not get out of my mind the agreement I had made to speak to the creature at the Amber Temple. While I had no inclination to make a deal with a dark power, I felt a compulsion to go to the temple in the mountains. We may need a greater power to rid this world of Strahd and even Baby Lasagna now that the Sun Spear no longer truly existed. As I finish this entry, and look back upon my earlier writings, I noticed the lack of humor once in them. Has this place stripped me of such emotion? I don’t remember that last time I’ve laughed. Or even really smiled.

...Fuck.
Session 18, Feb 27

After waking the next day after losing our friends once again, we were greeted by the very brief sight of Strahd von Zarovich disappearing into a cloud of mist while Elaine continues to keep watch. Of course we all began to berate her and demand an explanation for Strahd's appearance, to which she replied in her now-normal monotone voice, that she had made an agreement with him in exchange for help in returning her brother. Again, hard to even be surprised by this from anyone here. Unable to do anything about this for now, we continued northward to the Vistani camp which we left days ago. I'm still rather upset at the fact that we were so close to our objective only to turn around and leave it. As we made the Vistani camp, luckily still there, we noticed there was a commotion going on and Oswald rode up to see what was going on, Elaine shortly thereafter. I stayed behind with Marushka to keep her safe should something out of the ordinary happen. I would say 'strange', but so much strange shit happens in this place, that could be anything. I made it to the gate entrance but hung to the side, just peeking around the corner to see what was happening. It quickly became obvious what was going on. Izek Strazni stood holding a Vistani guard by the throat in his large, demonic hand. Several bodies lay behind him, most of which were beyond saving. Hearing Oswald trying to talk her brother down, Marushka steps from behind me and enters the camp. The large man finally releases the guard and begins making his way towards Marushka. The Vistani guards move to get in his way, but I bade them in their native tongue to stand down, and let us handle him. They complied, and let him through, and I gave them instruction to take care of their wounded/dead. After some minutes, Oswald realizes that Izek's anger is getting to be too much, and casts Calm Emotions on him. Surprisingly, he becomes far more calm and actually open to conversation. He mentions a grotto to the north by the edge of Lake Zarovich that he and Marushka used to hide in as children and that they would be safe their. His plan was to reach the place by leading her through Vallaki, taken as it is by Strahd's forces. Strategically being quiet for this whole interaction, for my own safety as well as others', I finally decided to speak up and present a far safer plan to everyone gathered. I point out to everyone that the safer route would be to take the river north to Lake Zarovich and not go through the city. Strazni said we had no boat, but with the most innocent plea from Marushka I'd ever seen, and a plainative request to him of "please", he said there were boats at the docks of Vallaki. With everyone in agreement, Strazni agreed to go get a boat for us by himself, and left to do so. As we collected ourselves and decided to settle down for the night, ~~Marushka and I~~ we all took separate wagons to sleep in, mostly in case Strazni decided to show himself before we awoke. The night went by mostly uneventful, and I woke well rested the next morning. I spent some time healing the wounded, teaching more people how to cast Cure Wounds and Goodberry. After some time, I decided to go shopping, to see what wares I could barter from the Vistani. Marushka accompanied me, which was nice. Just casually sharing some time and doing something as simple as shopping. It wasn't too long before Bryndon and Eerika reappeared, having survived their time in Lysaga's hut. We gathered and began to share our information with each other, telling all what we know about the Fanes, the dagger Lysaga gave Bryndon to kill the Heart of Ravenloft, the truth about Adrostos' deal with Lysaga, and everything else. At some point Bryndon brought up tieflings again, calling them "the cursed ones", and it made Marushka get up and leave. I followed after her a moment later, pausing only to wonder if Bryndon was doing this on purpose at this point. After we talked, and discussed dealing with Strazni when he returned, we told the Vistani to leave the camp, gather everything and everyone they could, and regroup with Madam Eva's caravan. Oddly enough, they left remarkably soon, leaving only their few overturned wagons used as "walls", for lack of a better word. As we were waiting around the camp, waiting for Strazni to return with the boat, I noticed that all the sounds of nature had stopped suddenly, and an eerie quiet settled over the area. Nothing good ever came from the sound of nature going quiet. Suddenly, a portal opened up in the sky, and Izek Strazni's head came soaring out of it and rolled across the ground in the middle of the camp. Before we could even comprehend what had occured, the devil himself, Strahd von Zarovich, appeared from the portal. Angry that "we" had ignored our agreements with him, and were intentionally keeping Ireena from him, he had grown tired of us and decided to deal with us directly. We engaged in battle, fruitless as it may have been. Having read his tactics in his diary, I immediately began to taunt the man, trying to ensure that he does not try and separate Marushka from the rest of us behind a Wall of Force and kill her. Our new friends quickly showed their worth as the fight with Strahd began. Eerika actually managed to grapple the vampire, and Adrostos smote him with a devestatingly powerful blow. Marushka joined in and caught him with a casting of Faerie Fire, making him easier for us all to deal with. He turned and gave Marushka a look in response, and I could tell she had been charmed. Oddly, Strahd's portal had remained open, and "Rahadin" appeared, fully equiped and ready for battle. At first I thought he looked ready to battle us to keep up his guise, but instead he removed his helmet and proclaimed that's Strahd's ability to scry wasn't as infallible as the vampire might believe. Kasimir revealed himself to Strahd finally. Throwing his cape wide, he answered a question I had been wondering since we discovered he had been masquerading around Strahd as his life-long adversary: how he had been avoiding Strahd's scry. Clutched in his hand, gasping for air as it had no body below it's throat, was the reanimated head of Rahadin himself, to which the dusk elf tossed to Strahd's feet before charging his "master". Strahd roared in rage at this betrayal, or maybe genuinely upset that he'd lost his long-time servant. Hard to tell. However with the damage we'd dealt him so far, he decided to recover some. Before He turned to mist and appeared next to Marushka, who was still near me, he uttered a single word and Adrostos began howling in pain. Turning back to Marushka, he put an arm around her, and she was as putty in his arms, immediately leaning to give him access to her neck. (The biggest indication that she had been charmed, if you ask me.) He bit into her flesh and begin to drink, but I did not allow him to take his fill. I struck him across his face with my whip, causing him to pull away before he could drink of her much. In retaliation, he drew a whip of his own, much to my surprise. The weapon possessed a visible black aura, and the evil that emanated from it was palpable. As if personally insulted by my attack, he attacked me in return with his whip, and followed up by slashing me across the face with his claws. I don't think I'd ever experienced such a pain before. His claws sunk deep into my skin, tearing my flesh with ease as they passed through, from my temple down to my chin. Part of my lip remained flapping away from my face, even as I tried to hold myself together and continue the fight. As we laid into the vampire further, he decided to flee, though a lucky blow managed to cause him to drop his whip. He turned into mist once more and vanished just as fast as he had arrived. As we recovered ourselves, I tried to put my face back on as much as I could before casting a cure spell on myself, though it had little effect of repair the damage: it simply dulled the pain. I believe I heard Oswald exclaim about Piddlewick having returned, perhaps sneaking out with Kasimir? Who knows. We didn't tarry long in this place. Kasimir began leading us westward, into the mist. Before any of us could even interject, his armor glowed and the mist parted around us, allowing us safe passage through it. Interesting. This means that an enchantment exists that could allow any to safely pass through the mist. No telling what kind of requirements such an enchantment could require, however... We ran until we were completely out of breath and stamina, and decided to camp for the night. I remember not what the others talked about, as Marushka had approached me and started stitching up my face with what few materials we had with us. It's sure to leave even more scars on my face. While I never saw myself as vain, I did consider myself lucky for being born with a handsome face. But now.. God, I dare not even gaze into a mirror or see my reflection. Marushka did not seem to be put off by my visage as she stitched me back together, but.. she may have been doing so for my sake. I don't know. I wanted to be next to her as we slept that night, but something stopped me. Fear, I wager. Whatever it was, I'll have to get over it soon. When we wake in the 'morrow, we continue our trek to Krezk, and I'll need to be focused for whatever we encounter on the way. Who knows what dangers lie in wait within the Mist?

Whip > ChickenHouse
Session 17, Feb 6

Good lord. Where do I even start with this one? We woke up in the morning and began our trek through the ruins towards the center of the city, following the.. magical leyline or whatever it was. In order to prevent a repeat of the day before, I made sure Marushka stayed directly behind me. Oswald basically lead the way, riding on his undead horse, while I was close keeping an eye out for beasties. The road was pretty shit, to be honest. More of a swamp than a road, bodies floated along the water, most bloated and looking to burst. At one point we actually came to a part of the roadswamp that was just a pile of corpses floating in the water, several on top of each other. If this was a trap, it was designed by a child. That aside, we didn't bother to chance it. No point getting into unnecessary combat. We decided to take the longer path and go around to circle back, rather than deal with the corpses. In this place, I wouldn't be surprised if they got up and began dancing. Nothing is sacred here. It would be my luck, then, that instead of dealing with the obvious corpse trap that we instead ran into a group of cultists performing some sort of ritual. A summoning of some kind? I don't remember. Doesn't really matter. Marushka stepped up and countered their spell before it could complete, and we moved in in tried-and-true fashion and dispatched them all. While she might not be "Elaine" as I remember her, her penchant for just casting Fireball on everything is quite welcome. Despite any personal issues any of may have with any of the others, our combat effectiveness has been superb. However much we wished to get back to the main road to continue on, our journey was suddenly interrupted by the most bizarre thing I've ever seen: a giant hut with chicken legs walking on its own. As if Moira's BoatCart wasn't enough, someone out here had to be even more outlandish. I wasn't sure exactly what it was, but Marushka must've recognized it immediately as she took off at the sight of it. Given the state of things, I assumed this was Baba Lysaga's place I've heard about. She ran towards Oswald, and swiftly hopped up onto the back of his horse. The two took off and the large ChickenHouse began running after them. I didn't know what to do, so I ran after them. I panicked, I guess. I don't know teleportation magics like some of the others, so I just started running. Thankfully I was able to keep up with the RoosterShanty, and with a well-placed strike with my whip into it's.. well, typically where a human's leg tendon is, it stopped completely. I was frankly stunned that it stopped. Against its size...? I don't see how, but it did. I knew I couldn't keep pace forever, so I took the opportunity to grab ahold of the HenKennel and pull myself up onto a.. patio? I'm not sure what else to call it. Once I had gained my bearing and took in the situation, I noticed there was a door leading into the home, and I could see Marushka and Oswald riding out ahead of the fowl hut. It was hard to make out, but Marushka seemed to be curled against Oswald's back as they rode. I'd never seen her so scared before. I had hoped to give her some relief that her friends were not abandoning her, so I yelled out for her. And that's where I fucked up. Coming from inside the PoultryShack came squeals from excited women and an exclaimation about a man. I hurriedly used my whip to pulley around the railing and tie to the door handle in attempt to brace the door from being opened. If what Marushla had told me about her vision the day before was true, and I was pretty damn sure now it was, these women were other "granddaughters" of Baby Lasagna, which meant they were hags, and I wanted no part of THAT. Next thing I knew, the door burst open despite my attempted to keep it from doing so, throwing me onto the ground in the doorway. Elaine appeared, shortly followed by Bryndon and Adumass. The hags attacked, but Adoofus used Bryndon as a shield, so they focused their attacks on Elaine. She was blasted off of the CockCastle before Adick began trying to.. I don't know, bargain? Something, with the hags. He had no luck. Bryndon, however, was grabbed by the women, and pulled into the house before I could get ahold of him. The door slammed shut behind him, and then the entire SquabDen disappeared into thin air, dropping us to the ground where the dwelling once ~~literally~~ stood. It was about this time that Oswald and Marushka rode up to us, asking where Bryndon and Eerika had gone. We went over how Bryndon was taken, but none of us knew where Eerika had gone off to. I hope she didn't somehow manage to climb up into the hut and was now wandering around with some weird creature. I dunno. It just feels like something she'd do? I We decided our best option at this point would be to leave this Fane behind and go back north, in pursuit of Bryndon (and likely Eerika). We'll meet up with the Vistani caravan again, hopefully, and maybe glean some information from the wanderers... I don't know whether to feel bad for Bryndon or the hags, really.

Lost and Found..
Session 16, Jan 23 2021

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…

The Fallout of Argynvostholt
Session 15, Jan 16 2021

Upon waking the next day, the way forward was opened to us into the rest of Argynvostholt. Oswald summoned his horse the night before, and with the creature, Van Richten, and Ezmerelda, our party went forth. The next chamber was a great hall, the path through which was flanked by a row of more armored revenants on each side. At the far end was a raised dais, upon which sat a large knight in extremely ornate full plate. Watching us approach, the grinding of metal was audible as the man(?) tightened his grip on his massive greatsword. We followed Oswald's lead on how to obey.. protocall? Not unlike the pleasantries one needed follow at noble gatherings back in Faerun. Everything seemed to be going well for the most part, but Vladimir Horngaard was no fool. Angry, yes. He knew we came seeking the book - Strahd's Diary. Things had seemed to be well until Ireena opened her mouth, and Horngaard recognized her. He opened Strahd's Diary and flipped immediately to a page where Ireena's portrait was clearly drawn. It was, of course, Tatiyana as we have learned so far, but it was the spitting image of Ireena. In his rage, it seemed as if Horngaard forgot about his trial, and instead began combat with us. The revenants in the room remained motionless, allowing Horngaard to do as he will. Seven on One seemed great odds for us, until Van Richten fucked it up by hitting a couple of Revenants with a spell. It prompted them all to attack. Oswald and I flanked Horngaard quickly and began doing what we do best. As if knowing my style of counter attacking for my allies, Horngaard focused on me for awhile. Thankfully Bryndon had used a spell on him that weakened his attacks, allowing me to suffer more of his blows than usual. This armor really held up well. I thought we had the fight well in hand, Van Richten at least being helpful in using his ability to Turn Undead to remove some of the revenants he pissed off. Sadly, Horngaard was unaffected by this. The fight truly became even trickier when we discovered Horngaard could magically switch places with any of the revenants. Little bitch just didn't want to stand and fight. It took effort from all of us, when we weren't being paralyzed from his own Turning ability, to win the fight. I say that, but in truth, we did not win. It wasn't until several of us had fallen and been recovered that Godfrey, the revenant who greeted us at the entrance of this place, appeared and exclaimed to Horngaard that this wasn't why they were here. That they were more than this. Horngaard stopped, and gave us an ultimatum. His "trial," finally. To pass, one of us must die here. Willingly. Most of us began discussing why we should be the one to sacrifice, but during that time, Van Richten stepped up to the dais that Horngaard had returned to, and stuck a dagger into his own throat. He slumped to the ground onto the steps of the dais, and his blood ran down the steps like carpet. In response, all of the revenants disappeared, leaving our prize for us to take. We quickly ran to his body and attempted to heal him with what spells we had left, but something about this place, this sacrifice Van Richten made, kept him from being revived. There was nothing we could do for him. We discovered a back exit from the Great Hall, left, and regrouped back at Ezmerelda's wagon. We decided to go to the refugee vistani camp to the west of what remains of Vallaki. We did what we could to heal the wounded, and even taught some how to use the spell Goodberry, so that it might be able to feed the survivors and help deal with the rapidly dwindling shortage of food. Marushka spent some time dancing and performing for those who wanted or needed the reprieve. In exchange for our generosity, they gave us wagons to sleep in rather than have us sleep outside. While most slept alone, Oswald stayed with Ireena to keep her safe, and Marushka invite me to stay with her. It was.. amazing, to say the least. They're memories I'll never forget. I'm not sure what to make of.. us, though. We didn't really talk about it, and I didn't want to press her about it. But now, in the breaking hours of the morning, as I sit here and write this journal, seeing her laying beside me, I feel confused. About.. many things. What the hell are you doing with your life? I’m talking to you, Trevor Belmont of House Belmont, with no living relatives. It is you I address. Last surviving monster hunter from your family out here in the armpit of the world. What the actual hell are you thinking? Idiot. You’re a tramp. You’re excommunicated. You have no family, you have no friends. You’ve spent your entire adult life being hated by everybody you ever met. And you were fine with that. You even liked it. Nobody could get near you, nobody could ruin your life because there wasn’t much left to ruin. But that last little bit of it? That was yours. And then what? A pretty girl holds your hand and takes you to bed and all of a sudden…

Argynvostholt, so far...
Session 13/14 Dec. 19 2020

The events leading up to this journal entry have been harrowing, to say the least. I write this journal in, I believe, the wee hours of the morning; sunrise, if this realm had one, would be shortly coming. I'll recount the events as best as I can remember from my last entry. We arrived at Argynvostholt with little flair, though Oswald seemed quite pleased with himself. Finally being able to put that particular training to use, I suppose. Still rather tired after our watch, I didn't catch much of the area before we had to unload from ~~Van Richten's~~ Ezmerelda's wagon, and we quickly gathered our things before heading inside. Once we were within, the door slammed shut behind us, but not before the fleeting light of day gave us all brief illumination of the true ruins that now lie within with us. Rubble, skeletons, clear signs of struggle. Bones littered the place. It seemed as if War itself had come riding in on its horse and slew every creature living within. It was unsurprising then, if not more than a little unsettling, that a spectre appeared before us. A revenant, clear as day, wearing armor that seemed to match a large number of the remains strewn about this great hall. As they conversed, I focused my senses and began trying to identify how many undead were in this place. Never again. In the way that my sensory skill functions, let's assume that a single undead entity is a candle, burning its flame and giving off a soft, warm light. Believe me when I say that this place felt as if I were inches from the sun, its heat blistering and scorching my flesh from my bones and its light searing my eyes like an unending light I would never blink away. Never in all my years have I felt anything like this before. Nor, I believe, am I like to again. When I came to, we had apparently been surrounded by more revenants, and the first we had encountered was congratulating Oswald on passing his test. I'm not entirely sure what transpired, but apparently Oswald was about to cut a strip of flesh off of Marushka's cheek and feed it to his undead horse? She seemed concerned about a lasting scar from the ordeal, but I smiled and offer her the solace that scars are attractive. As if my own didn't show so. It seemed just as ridiculous hearing it then as it does writing it down now. They let us past and we made our way into the next area of the ruins. After shuffling alone a narrow ledge, we came to a bridge where a large revenant knight wielding a greatsword awaited us. Some how, for I do not remember, we discovered that the area around the bridge was under the affect of an Anti-Magic Field. Then, the knight told Oswald of his next trial; choose a champion that would fight in his stead. Bryndon tried to leap at the chance (For some reason), but was "persuaded" by Erkki to allow him to handle this trial. The two fought an incredible match, with the tide of battle seeming to swing either way between the combatants at any moment. Finally, the knight ended up pinning Erkki to the side of the bridge, his upper half dangling dangerously off the side. He posed Oswald a choice: Let Erkki fall, or take his place. If the first trial was anything to go by, I believe had Oswald chosen to take his place, the trial would have passed and we would all be free to proceed. However, Erkki is a fucking idiot. Bleating out that he wouldn't put Oswald through a moral dilemma for his own life, Erkki slammed his fist into the knight's arm, such that the knight lost his grip and Erkki plummeted to the darkness below. As much as I wish I could have lashed out with my whip and save him, we were all too far away. I can't.. Mm. I may not have liked Erkki a great deal, and he was as dumb as an ox, but I cannot claim to not have an ache in my heart for losing yet another comrade in this hellhole. The deed done, the knight vanished as ghosts are wont to do. Across the bridge from us, the door leading onward opened and we solemnly proceeded forward. I will be glad to put this place behind me once we have finished our business here. As we entered the next room, there was a rune inscribed on keystone in the center of the room, and while it was clearly dwarven, none of us could suss out how it should help us. If only the dumbass dwarf we brought with us hadn't stupidly decided to take a swan dive off the bridge into infinite darkness in the prior room. That would've been helpful. The room itself was littered with coin, from dull coppers to shining platinums and golds. Sprinkled around as well were treasures of elven and dwarven make alike, but none of us dared not touch or try to take anything. Another revenant appeared before us and gave us a warning that only death and misery awaited us here. We did not heed the warning; we had come too far and already lost too much to turn away now, empty-handed. Among the various treasures in the room, 8 chests, closed but unlocked, stood out amongst everything. We searched through the coins and treasures as warily as we could, but took nothing. Everything seemed alright, but we found no key among the riches. Knowing we needed to find the key to proceed, Oswald opened a chest and rummaged inside in search of it. He found nothing of the sort. As he proceeded to open the next chest, he was blocked by some invisible force from even touching it, as if repelled by some ward. Bryndon confidently strode over to do it instead and found he had no problems opening the chest. As he rummaged through the chest, it slammed shut suddenly and blood began to pour down the boy's arms just before standing up to an incredible 7 feet height. We battled the mimic and eventually won, but we definitely took some damage as a whole. As we prepared to open the next chest, we all readied ourselves for another battle, and good thing. The next chest ended up being a mimic as well. Thankfully, with everyone ready, we merc'd it pretty handidly but unfortunately found no key. So.. you know what? I'm going to really shorten the next bit. The next chest turned out to be a fiend that the knights here had made a deal with in life, and here it was. It offered us the key forward for sparing us its life and allowing it to follow along with us. It ended up turning into a shadow-y form of Oswald, and tired of everyone's bickering, I made a deal with it. We went forward. We found ourselves in a multi-floor tower, later found to be in a separate plane from Barovia, in which dwelled Mordenkainen. Apparently Strahd had cursed him and put him in here, unable to defeat him. If this isn't considered a defeat, I don't know what is. This was pretty shitty. We were unable to help him in the end, but we made a promise to try and come back with the missing piece of his staff if we could and free him. As we continued on, avoiding any cliff edges for fear of being pushed to our deaths via Demonmimic, we found ourselves at yet another trial. Stating that Oswald's faith had not yet been tested, Dlawso stepped into the summoning circle in the middle of the room, and the rest of us followed save for Ezmerelda and Van Richten. Dlawso turned into a bigass demon with a fiery sword and we all had to fight him inside the circle. The two outside found themselves fighting a bunch of revenants. So the BAD (Big Ass Demon) looks at me, and I'm suddenly STARVING. Like.. holy shit I know I've only been eating Goodberries since I got here, but I was suddenly RAVENOUS. Not knowing what else it might do, I fought through the feeling, my mouth salivating uncontrollably, and I cast Protection from Evil and Good on Marushka once I had made my way over to her. I was NOT about to lose her as well. The fight carried on with all kinds of crazy shit going on. Ireena began fighting like the devil himself, without fear of death or even losing. Bryndon began stripping himself of his clothing, as if he'd suddenly become a nudist. We were all hurting badly. The demon's flaming sword cut swaths through us, and we were all nearly done for. And then it happened. I was forcibly turned around only to find Marushka there, gazing into my eyes and looking like the most beautiful creature in all the world. Nay, the planes! While I foundly recalled her beautiful face often, I had never seen her like this before. Maybe it was the heat of the moment? Some sort of enchantment of the demon at play? Whatever it was.. well... She wrapped her arms around my neck and forced herself close, pressing her lips to mine in a fevered kiss. Probably my own desires being set free here, I didn't hesitate to return it as much as I could. Her lips were... ah, as I sit here writing in recollection, I have not the words to describe the moment. Certainly had it been any other time, I would have continued on for longer than the.. time.. some amount of time. I could not keep track of it. ~~Did not want to.~~ Some unrational side of me forced me to pull away, against everything else that I am, and bade me continue the fight. Perhaps more could come later. Fearing for Ireena's safety (and everyone else's, is Strahd's threats were not to be taken lightly), I dove on top of her after she fell to the ground, shielding her body with my own to prevent her from being slain before we could heal her. I found myself struck across the back once more, and nearly passed out from the pain. Suddenly, it went quiet, and the demon gone. I had heard Marushka's voice ring out a command and all was still. Apparently Dlawso yet again asked Oswald to sacrifice, and upon agreeing, left - Oswald had passed his trial. We regrouped in the chamber, deciding it was worth well enough to stay and recover here. The knights aside, there had been no stray creatures. Nothing to attack us outside of the trials. We were comforted by this fact, and bid we give ourselves time to sleep and recover. Ireena was too injured to keep watch, and we all agreed she needed all her sleep. Bryndon took first watch with Oswald. Still more going on between those two than I care to know, but I hope all this is getting through to Bryndon, and he picks up some of Oswald's traits. Van Richten and Esmerelda took the next watch, neither wanting to take a watch with anyone besides themselves. That left just.. Marushka and I for the final watch. It was.. pleasant. We talked about what happened during the fight. Neither of us disliked it (at least she said), but I recognize that she was under some sort of compulsion. I have never.. wanted her to feel forced or pressured, if ever a thing we to come between us. While she apologized for her action, and I did the same, I could not help but feel a great deal of guilt at it all. She had been coerced. Under another's influence. But I had no such excuse. We finally moved away from that topic, and just spoke. As friends. It was significantly better than our previous watches together. I believe she asked me of Faerun, and of my home. Soon we will wake the others, and continue on deeper into this tomb of paladins. Someone once said.. "Home is where the heart is." Yes, Marushka, my family is back in Faerun, but my home, apparently, is here.

Dinner Pt 2
Session 12 Nov 7, 2020

I write this journal during the late hours of night and into the early light of day, watching the sun rise with Marushka by my side as we drive Ezmerelda's wagon towards our destination of Argynvostholt. I will now recount the events of the past day. Kasimir, disguised as Rahadin, began leading Bryndon and I around the lower levels of Castle Ravenloft, giving us the opportunity to explore and memorize the layout. Of course I notated as much as I could, in my notebook, as we explored. I guess the boy assumed he'd just remember it, or not bother at all and leave it to me. Whatever. I had a good idea of what I was expecting due to my conversations with Rudolf earlier in Vallaki. The stories could hardly compare to the real thing. With some exploration, I found that the castle could change itself, a self-defense mechanism, almost as if it were alive. Through trial and error I discovered that the castle seems to rotate on a four-floor rotation. Duly noted. Should we find ourselves needing to progress through the castle without the safety of our host in the future, as I'm sure we shall, we'll at least have that knowledge to aid us. As we returned to our room, we came across a section of hallway not far from our room. While we could see nor detect anything unusual, the hairs standing on the back of my neck told me otherwise. We drew our weapons to prepare for some sort of assault, invisible assailants perhaps? Turns out to have been Ezmerelda, coming to spy on us at Rudolf's suggestion once he had found out that we accepted Strahd's invitation to dinner, and brought Ireena with us. I know not what information Ezmerelda may have gleamed from her time in hiding, but I do know that invisibility spells don't last indefinitely. We told her we would be leaving at "dawn" (I say that, knowing that the sun is always shrouded in this land.), and it would be in her best interests to make her way outside to the courtyard where the Black Coach would be waiting to take us to our next destination, and to hide out there until we meet up with her in the morning. I would have.. offered to share my room, but she seems to dislike me for some reason. Not so much as for anything I may have done, I feel, but perhaps for some other innocuous reason. Along with the fact that I was sharing the room with Bryndon, of all my companions, it seemed an unwise choice. She agreed with the decision, and made her way out of the castle (as far as we could tell), and the two of us finally retired to our room for the night. We awoke hours later, quite refreshed I must admit. Truly, it was actually the best sleep I've gotten since I've arrived here. Part of me feels guilty for that. Elaine not being here still haunts me to a degree, as I'm sure it will for some time to come. We all made our way to the Black Coach to proceed onwards to the Wizard of Wines, finding Ezmerelda curled up on a seat within. Erkki began speaking of dreams and shirtless vampires licking his heart or something of the sort. I immediately dismissed him as ramblings of a bad hangover. He and Oswald seemed to drink quite a lot at dinner the night before. We began piling inside when we heard a noise outside the carriage - prompting me to throw my cloak over Ezmerelda and Marushka to cover her with her dress. I like how on the same wavelength we seem to be about such things. It was then that Erkki's Lestat appeared to us all and began.. taunting? Errki himself, who seemed greatly disturbed by the creature's arrival. I banged on the wall of the coach and yelled for whatever phantom driver to take us away, and thankfully it did. Once we'd left the creature in our wake, Bryndon and Erkki began discussing our plans but Marushka (rightly) interjected that Strahd's private coach was probably not the best place to be discussing such matters if we were wanting privacy. We all soon stopped and made ourselves comfortable in the coach, letting the rest of the trip go by in relative silence. Leaving in the early morning, we arrived at the crossroads near the Wizard of Wines in late afternoon. The speed this flying coach can achieve is amazing, if nothing else. Once we disembarked, we began to discuss our plans in full. Bryndon reiterated his desire to go to the Amber Temple once again, Erkki stated his desire to go nowhere near the place, and Oswald actually stepped in to give his 2 copper on the subject. (For the record, I had no intentions of going to the Wizard of Wines right away; while I respect Strahd and his power, I don't trust him. If he's so powerful, he could take care of this situation himself, not send us in his place. He's playing us, I'm sure of it.) To be honest, I wanted to take some time and just.. stop feeling so rushed. Ever since we arrived at Vallaki we've been constantly on the move. I feel like there was so much more we could have accomplished there before everything went to hell. Oswald made some good points about the coin given to his some time ago, and (I believe) Marushka brought up the tarrokka reading Madam Eva gave us some time ago. Ezmerelda agreed, and if that was the conclusion the only two natives here came to, that was good enough for me. Finding this book should provide ample answers to our questions, and even shed some light on what caused all this. Perhaps, we may even discover a means to end this nightmare once and for all. Thankfully, the road to Argynvostholt was not too terribly far, and we could reach it by heading back East. We all agreed once Oswald managed to make some sense with Bryndon, and headed off that way. It was a few hours later when we were nearly ran over by a wagon on the way, being driven by Rudolf Van Richten himself. We regrouped, got in the wagon, and continued on our way to Argynvostholt. Rudolf gave us shit for taking Ireena to Strahd's dinner, of course, without any better options to suggest we had done. After explaining to the others what I gleamed about Castle Ravenloft, Rudolf confirmed what I discovered. He even elaborated on there being a great source of magic somewhere in the castle, acting as a 'heart' and protecting it from intruders. It made me wonder then if the castle was changing because the 3 of us were "somewhere we shouldn't be" or if it was because it knew Ezmerelda was sneaking about and she was not invited by Strahd. I kept my thoughts about it to myself. The pair of them seemed especially prickly this evening, with Ezmerelda's temperament returning once she'd been reunited with her mentor. The wasn't all too much to say regarding the rest of the evening. I believe Rudolf ran over a corpse on the road as he drove, and we were stopped at one point to battle off a small pack of Alpha Werewolves. I don't mean to make light of the battle itself, but we all seemed to handle it fairly well. The carriage Rudolf drove, owned by Ezmerelda we learned, was well fortified for attack and even came equipped with multiple mounted crossbows, all of which included silver-tipped ammunition. If ever there is a silver shortage in Barovia, this man is why. Bryndon was downed again, surprising no one, but was rescued by Rudolf. Didn't know the old man had healing magic, but I supposed for as long as he's been at this, one would need to. We found the armored tiger Rudolf owned to be named "Blinsky" after the man himself, and extremely well trained in combat, coming to Erkki's aid and nearly single-handedly decapitated a werewolf. This, of course, all happened on Ezmerelda and Van Richten's watch so once the battle was over, they switched out with Marushka and I who had volunteered for the second watch. The rest of them slept as peacefully as one can in a moving carriage, and I think even Marushka was dosing off on me up in the driver's seat. I said nothing, of course. Let her sleep. Let them all sleep. Hopefully their dreams are of something better than this nightmare. I finish this entry at the end of my watch, having just switched again with our two guests who were quite keen on taking the reins back from us, despite the undisturbed sleep that they got from our watch, as if we would somehow bring them bad luck. Marushka and I retired back in to the carriage, set to eke out just a few more hours sleep before we arrive in Argynvostholt. Hopefully we can get through this without losing someone else in this godforsaken place...

Dinner Pt 1
Session 11, Oct 31

Strazni left without much of a fight once the battle with the vampires were said and done, all told. He demanded we meet him at the Baron's home immediately and left. We decided to crack the sealed letter open for some insight on what was going on and Strahd's intentions, and gained more than we bargained for. Somehow predicting this would all go down, the letter was addressed to us, and it was an invitation to Castle Ravenloft, to dinner, with Strahd himself. I was, of course, immediately skeptical about the whole thing. Had he known, and allowed these events to unfold? Did he let his bride and several lieutenants go to their deaths at our hand? It was.. certainly disturbing. We were also given direction to go to speak to Lady Wachter, or we decided to go their ourselves, given we were already supposed to have met with her this night, and we already knew she was in league with The Devil. We had little choice, we felt, and it actually seemed a better plan than to go see the Baron and Izek Strazni right now. With the brief reprieve we were given as we went to Lady Wachter's, I finally gave Marushka a symbol of my gratitude for her unending vigilance in keeping me alive during these times. It was a black broach emblazoned with a red rose, encircled with white gems and silver leaves, all on a silver chain. It was the closest thing I'd seen since I've been here that I felt could even come close to apologizing to her, and possibly letting her know how I felt. She accepted it, and smiled, but I'm not sure she actually liked it. Can't blame her, I suppose. This may not have really been the best time, all things considered, what with everything that's going on. It's fine. I hope she likes it. We decided to pay one last visit to the church before going to Lady Wachter's home, just to do some last minute follow ups, I suppose. I don't remember much of the reason, or what happened there, to be perfectly honest. My mind was... elsewhere. For.. someone's peace of mind, I gave a donation of gold to the Bishop in exchange for him removing the curse of the necklace I wore, as well as staying silent about some information about Seigfried and Roy. He obliged, and the necklace fell from my neck, no longer choking me, and now devoid of all magic. I felt distracted as we left, but I felt that there was little else to be done there for now. The others may have had further business or intentions, but I know them not. We made our way to Lady Wachter's estate without incident, and indeed the guards were awaiting our arrival. Not unlike the last time I was here, The Baron Vargas Vallakovich's men were keeping eyes on the place. As soon as we were permitted entry, the two exchanged a word and one left. It doesn't take a genius to know they were reporting to the Baron. As we entered the Wachterhouse proper, we saw a score of men suiting up and preparing for battle. Somehow our timetable had been skewed, or perhaps, something else was afoot. While Ana Strahza had told us that the attack was planned for the day of the planned festival just days from now, these men were preparing for a battle to be waged this very night. They were dressed in black, stylized in the exact same fashion as we now wore: like Strahd's forces. We were led to Lady Wachter who saw us in her.. study? At least in more than an evening gown as she graced my presence with last time. She seemed to be standing before a seeing orb, watching. It all now made sense how she knew things she should not have known. She'd been watching us all along through this, perhaps even guiding us since we arrived. She spoke of her allegiance to Strahd, citing how he rules justly from his castle, and it was Vargas Vallakovich who was ruining this city - the last surviving city in Barovia. I had to admit, she was making some sensible points. At her firm suggestion, she convinced us to leave the city tonight, and go meet Strahd as his letter instructed. Yet another show of power about things she should not know. Behind her enscribed on the floor was a teleportation circle, which she said would take us to the Black Carriage outside of town. Hadn't that been decimated by Moira's Boatcart? Had not it's driver's head been smashed in just the day before? There were many questions, but truthfully, after what we'd all been through, I don't think any of us cared to deal with all the men downstairs to disagree with her, nor the potential retaliation from Strazni and The Baron's men. We stepped into the circle and was whisked away to the outskirts of Vallaki, the carriage next to us in sight. It had been repaired, somehow, at some point, and I could still detect the presence of the invisible undead horses that pulled it. Its door opened as if inviting us in, and after some brief discussion amongst ourselves, we got in. What we expected could be a full day's journey, if not longer, took what seemed to be only minutes. A half hour or so, at best. We found during the trip that the carriage could also fly, as it quickly left the shackles of gravity behind and took to the sky. The journey was fairly swift as we cut our way through the night air and up the mountain to where Castle Ravenloft sat tall and solitary, watching over all of Barovia below it. While it was my first time flying in such a manner, I must say.. I rather liked the feeling. It was an exhilaration to be sure, and I'd never experienced its like. When the carriage landed, the door opened and we all exited, soon to be greeted by the dead. Normally, not an unexpected thing, given in whom's company we now were, but this was beyond even that. Rahadin greeted us at large doors of the Castle, beckoning us inside. Closer inspection actually revealed the dark elf to be our ally Kasimir, taking over Rahadin's role. It would seem that in a short time the elf took on Rahadin's guise and make his way into Strahd's inner sanctum. This is good. This would be helpful. We must be careful not to blow his cover, which I'm extremely afraid of happening, given my current companions. We were led to a large dinning hall, with servants bringing in luxurious-looking foods and drink of all kinds. We sat, and I took the opposite end of the table from the elaborate and ornate throne that took the other end. Our host himself appeared from a coalescing cloud of mist that wafted in from doors in the back of the room, and he joined us at his table. Conversation began, and many of us partook of his food and drink. Whether or not the great vampire noticed, (I'm sure he did) I did not partake of the feast our host had laid out before us. Amidst all the peacocking and questions, Strahd actually asked of us a request. A job to do, for him. It seemed like a circle of druids were performing dark magic and planned on destroying the Wizard of Wines winery, and Strahd was enlisting our help to stop them. Odd, considering Strahd himself should have the power to end their plans. Moreover, we'd mostly agreed to help the winery when we first heard of their plight at the Blue Water Inn, so as odd as it was, we agreed, though with some caveats. I think a few of the others spoke up, I don't quite remember, but I took the opportunity to ask for a boon from Strahd for the work; safe passage from now on through the Mist. He said only that we would speak later. Wrapping up the night, Strahd bade up stay the night, and ensured no harm would come to us so long as we followed the rules of his home. Through a window in the Dining Hall, I could see Vallaki in flames in the distance. It was not a place I cared return to just yet. It had been a long enough day already. Our host departed, and "Rahadin" returned, escorting us to our chambers for the night. The two ladies were taken to a room to share ~~much to my dismay~~, and Errki and Oswald were given a room to share. Which left me and Bryndon to share the last room, just the two of us since... However, before we could enter, "Rahadin" put his arm across the frame, blocking our way forward, and very ominously instructed us to follow him. This is going to be a long night....

A small amount of payback, but not nearly enough
Session 10, Oct 10

I'm going to be honest, I don't remember a lot of the morning. Probably from all the drink the Bishop had with him. We kinda drank him dry as I recall. As the day went on, we decided to split up and follow the two leads we decided needed looking into: The child, Miliovich, having been brain-woogied the night before, and the guard that Rahadin had been impersonating the last.. who knows how long. We quickly decided that the two best "people person"s amongst us was Marushka and Bryndon, which.. yeah, I can agree with that. So we split the two of them up. I, for one, was not going back to that orphanage for anything. Not my thing at all. Likewise, we all agreed it best that Errki not go as well. For... reasons. Which meant either Marushka or Bryndon was coming with us to go see the captain of the guard, Izek Strazni, to find out some info about this guard before we could ask him some questions. Marushka volunteered to come, but Bryndon and I decided that that probably would not be in our best interests to do so. While I hated denying Marushka this (and frankly, despite everything going on, she's always a pleasure to have around), Izek's idealation about Marushka being his sister could likely cause more problems if she came along with us. Not to mention the fact that Strazni has already invited Bryndon into his home and let him in on this secretive information; it implied a trust with the boy that we couldn't ignore to use to get what information we could from him. Before we left, we reminded the Bishop of his promises to help us should we prove ourselves to the city. In keeping of his word, he healed Errki's leg. For me.. well, he could not consecrate my whip as I had originally asked, but instead performed a different "blessing" upon it. Spoken in a language none of us knew, submerged in a holy font filled with the blood of those who had been killed last night, the whip changed somehow, having taken on a darker hue when he returned it to me. He would not say immediately what he had done, only that it would aid me on my journey. Interesting. I look forward to finding out. So we split up; Myself, Errki, and Bryndon to visit Izek Strazni while the rest of us - Marushka, Bryndon, Oswald, and Ireena went to the orphanage to see the boy. It was rather uneventful getting to Izek's home. Everyone was still going around preparing for the festival in a few days time, and putting on as happy faces as they could while doing so. Many of them lost loved ones and family members to the wolves that attacked the night before, and it was obvious they were trying hard to hide it. This happiness law is bullshit and I hate it. When we arrived at the home, Bryndon spoke to Strazni briefly - I either didn't hear the exchange or am too drunk to remember it - but he let us enter in short order (ha ha. Short order. Errki.) Upon explaining the situation with the prior night's attack, and how Rahadin was impersonating a guard, he gave us the information we needed. I don't remember his name. It was of little consequence. We did catch a glimpse into Strazni's little obsession when Marushka was brought up, but he was protective of that room Bryndon had mentioned before. He made Bryndon swear to keep her safe before he would let us leave, and honestly, I'm conflicted about that. For one, the boy is only 14. And this man is asking Bryndon to pledge his life to protect his.. erm.. older-than-you sister? (Forgive me Marushka, I know not your age exactly and it is not a man's place to ask it.) Not... I don't know, the adult Ranger or the dwarf Barbarian that accompanied him? On the other hand.. I don't really know how I would've felt being given such a task. Again. I've already failed once in that, and it still haunts me. While I may not have been overly fond of Elaine, she was my charge, and her naivete was often humorous. I can't say I miss her, truly, for our time together was rather short, but her loss on my watch will be something hard for me to let go. ~~It... Maybe..~~ Perhaps its my fractured price or my feeling of failure to protect Elaine that has had me constantly thinking about using this cursed necklace one more time and just ending it. I know such a sacrifice will not bring Elaine back, but perhaps it would at least stop the guilt eating away inside of me that I keep from the others. We departed Strazni's home and followed the directions given to the guard's home. Thankfully it wasn't too far away. The layout of Vallaki is mostly straightforward with most of the city divided by only 2 main roads and a few side streets that tend to loop around back to them where people live. So we get there, guy has been laid up in his house for about 2 weeks with a broken leg. Wife and kid been with him the whole time. I don't remember what, but I said something that made the guy upset and he told us to get out. Which, I mean, whatever? We got the info we needed. He seemed to be being truthful as far as we could tell. We made our way back to the orphanage to meet up with the others and let them know our lead was a dead end. They stated that the boy was heavily disturbed, but they managed to get some info out of him. Turns out he was supposed to give some "boon" to the coffinmaker.. Vanderhoot? I don't know. With our lead gone, this was the best we had to go on, so went to pay the man a visit. I knocked when we arrived and we were shortly greeted by an older man with gray streaks in his hair and a handlebar mustache. The coffinmaker's home was plain enough, and the backyard was littered in half-completed coffins, most of which I'm sad to say were sized for children. Marushka began informing him that the boy directed us to him about the boon he'd received, but he merely stated that the boon was not for him. Lady Wachter paid him handsomely to collect it, though he knew not what it was or what she wanted it for. He merely did the job he was paid to do. When Oswald insisted he had ruined a boy's life, he merely stated he had nothing to do with that, and Lady Wachter solely held that blame. Oswald used his ability to channel divinity and sensed that Vanderhoot had a bone of St. Andral on his person. Upon realizing the time, I began urging the party to hurry up and leave so that we might make Lady Wachter's dinner which would surely shed some light upon the goings on here in Vallaki. Despite the objections raised by myself and Marushka, the others began searching the home, Bryndon making Vanderhoot levitate in attempt to coerce more information from him. They found an access to the basement which seemed to trigger Vanderhoot somewhat, and he warned us not to go down. Curiously, I used my own powers to locate the undead, and found 11 undead presences without my range. 10 directly beneath us, and 1 out by the Blue Water Inn. A curiosity, for sure, but now he had my attention. We went downstairs to investigate, as both Oswald and myself were now keenly aware that an undead presence was here. We found 10 coffins around the room, and a basic magic circle inscribed upon the floor. It was amateurish at best, likely someone unpracticed in the arts trying to follow directions given. Vanderhoot, by my guess, likely given by Lady Wachter. I knew what lie inside. A few of the others went upstairs to confront Vanderhoot about this, while I began examining the room and trying to see what I could do to remove these creatures from their immortal coil. I had been taught much from Van Richten: Holy Water hurts them gravely. For weaker foes, a stake to the heart would kill; for the stronger types that I could detect here, the same would only put them in a state of torpor. Alas, between all of our possessions, we lacked sufficient equipment to rig up a trap like I wanted, using what stakes and Holy Water I had on me to kill the vampires. Some of us felt this a reprieve unlike any we'd had before. It was, for once, a chance for us to finally get a drop on the vampires, rather than the other way around. Marushka pleaded with me and Bryndon to let it go and leave, but we saw this as too opportune. Lady Wachter could wait if it meant dispatching 10 of Strahd's court from these lands. Knowing we would need reinforcements, Bryndon told Errki to go to Strazni, tell him what we have found, and that his sister is in danger. As Errki left, one of the lids began to open, and upon seeing the beautiful vampiress running her fingers through her hair, I knew that retreat was no longer an option. For me and Bryndon, at least. The woman was Ana Strahza, a bride of Strahd we learned, and the same woman who had maimed Elaine's ear and shortened Errki's beard some time ago. This woman would die here, or be the death of us. A looked passed between Bryndon and I; a mutual understanding of feelings and how this would end. We had not death wishes, but our pride as men to make up for our shortcomings before would be corrected now. Ana Strahza began prattling on about how they were not here to kill us, and would even let us leave to go attend Lady Wachter's dinner which we were surely to be late for, but Bryndon was a smart boy, and made with small talk to give Errki more time to bring back reinforcements. In her rebuttal, she promised to kill Marushka, here, before Bryndon's eyes, egging him on, as she likely knew. What she did not know, was that I was on possession of an Orb of Daylight, given to me by Madam Eva during the time of our reading. Perhaps in sensing our murderous intent, the other nine coffins opened, and the rest of the vampires came forth to confront us. 2 magicians, a rogue, and 6 more fighters. I took the initiative and threw the Orb of Daylight towards the back of the group. The light seared their bodies and blinded them all. Marushka cast a Shatter spell amongst them, blowing apart their coffins and the magic circle upon the ground, as well as dealing them damage. Ireena invoked the power of the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind that was given to her by Van Richten, which began to pulsate and continue to blast daylight into the room with us, further stunning many of the vampires. The battle raged on, and shortly therein, the floor of the home - the ceiling to the room we were in, tore apart and Errki and Izek Strazni came crashing in from above. The battle ensued and we all fought hard. Even Ireena put in her fair share of work. She is a very impressive and brave woman. Not unlike someone else I know... I found some degree of the "blessing" the Bishop Lucian placed upon my whip. As the leather cracked across the vampire's armor, a burning rust-color was left in its wake. It was biting through their supernatural defenses. Even better, in fact, was the death-stroke I laid upon Ana Strahza. My whip caught around her throat, and I yanked her back against me. I whispered in her ear some insult just before smashing yet another flash of holy water into her now-burnt, scarred face. As the last of her "life" escaped her, it was taken in by my whip, and I could feel it heal me of my wounds. The battle waged, and most of it was a blur to me. I fell a few times, risen again by Marushka. I really must thank her soon. One by one we fought, falling and healed, and one by one we slayed the vampires. Only one survived, escaping by way of mist out through the ceiling. Once the battle was over, Strazni turned on Bryndon, chastising him for getting Marushka involved in the dealings with Lady Wachter and these vampires, and the danger she was in by being here with us. I tuned the man out, for the most part, but I had no desire to be in Bryndon's shoes at that moment. Strazni is a mountain of a man, weilding a two-handed great axe in one hand, and the other arm a chitinous deformity strong enough to split a vampire in twain. I feared little in this world, but one on one I would not bet on myself against him. There was arguing, and evidently we all agreed to follow Strazni back to the Baron's. Before leaving, we gathered our spoils of war. The vampires were well-armored, and many of us were lacking in similar defense. Ireena, Oswald, and even Bryndon partook of their decorative plate mail; Ireena by thanks of Ana Strahza's female-designed armor. I myself happened to find the rogue's suit of leather most appealing, and a suitable upgrade to my own. After putting on the armor, I saw Marushka looking me over, mostly at the armor I'm sure. I hadn't realized she was also a user of the type, though to be fair, with the way she moves, I'm unsuprised. As we talked, she allowed me to keep the rogue's armor, and took my old armor instead. It came to Barovia with me, and was of a better make than her own. I could only agree to allow her to have it, given the circumstances. I must admit, it was.. quite the sight to watch her put on my armor. ~~I imagine seeing her taking it off would be even better.~~ I don't even know why I wrote that. Lastly, we found a number of items made of silver amongst the nine, which we determined we would have the local silversmith use to coat Errki's hammer to help him in battle. Marushka also took one of the rogue's weapons, finding it a suitable replacement for her simitar. We also found a letter, sealed, with Strahd's emblem.. Who knows what it contains, within..

Its hard to be right all the time.
Session 9, Sept 26

I wasn't sleeping like I should when Ireena burst into the Blue Water Inn and began shouting about an ally of Strahd having infiltrated the city. With my issues about Marushka keeping me up, and this thunderstorm going on outside, sleep wasn't coming to me anytime soon anyhow. I bolted from my room, grabbing my gear, and made my way downstairs to get a better idea of what was going on. She began going on about Rahadin, but I knew right away there was going to be an ulterior motive going on here. While Rahadin could have come and gone through the city since the beginning of its holy protection, he may have been hard pressed to learn of the bones acting as this city's ward. That was my thinking, at least. If he knew, he could've otherwise come in at any time during these years and destroyed them, right? I didn't wait for the others. I couldn't. While I have no love for this hellhole the natives call Barovia, to be honestly I just wanted a good, uninterrupted night's sleep. And if this place could provide that, then I'm willing to stick my neck out just a little. Certainly didn't hurt that I had a personal grudge against a lot of the asshole's terrorizing this land. While I wasn't -looking- for Kasimir and Rahadin in particular, I did end up coming upon their battle. They were by now surrounded by the sound of combat. A score of wolves, at least, had taken to the city, and were currently engaged with what amount of town guard were awake. Unfortunate for the ones asleep, who may've ended up as prey for the beasts. As I continued up the road to the church, I passed numerous wolves, some having very clearly come from the church, red staining their maws. I took a small solace in the fact that wolves can't open barred doors, but that all quickly went out the window when I entered the church. A large werewolf stood present, gnawing on some mangled piece of meat and turned to look at me as I arrived. I knew at once this was an Alpha. The werewolf leading this pack. ...and I also knew it was Kiril Stoyanovich. The scraps of clothing remaining on his body gave that away, lending itself to what I remembered from our previous interactions. Having proved me right every step of the way, I jumped into the fray without hesitation. This asshole would die this day. Fang and claw was met with sword and whip, and we battled back and forth across the church. A few of his wolves remained for awhile, watching the battle but not yet interfering with us. He proved to be slightly more of a nuisance than I had originally imagined, but I was pretty solidly holding my own. I wanted this for my pride more than anything. With Dumb and Dumber back at the Blue Water Inn bragging about their solo Wendigo kill, I wanted this Alpha Werewolf all to myself. It would, of course, but a cruel joke of the fates that just when Kiril managed to land a solid bite on me and toss me about a little, that Oswald and Bryndon came barging into the church to witness my lowest moment. It wasn't even that bad. Just a lucky shot. But my cries for them to go downstairs and check on the bones of St. Andral fell upon deaf ears, for they took it upon themselves TO INTERRUPT MY FUCKING BATTLE AND DENY ME THE RIGHT OF FINISHING THIS ASSHOLE ON MY OWN. So.. yes. I was pretty livid. And even though I dealt the killing blow to Kiril, slashing his throat open with his own weapon, I was robbed of the right to call it my own victory. The two brats failed to understand why I was upset, and completely insistent that I was at death's door when they arrived. Worst yet, Marushka came in shortly behind them, also seeing my humiliation. Just what I fucking needed. I feel as if my pride won't be restored until I walk out into the mist on my own and come back with a trophy. Speaking of trophies, I drug Kiril's ass out into the main street of town, nearer the area where the guards fell fighting wolves and Kasimir and Rahadin had been battling earlier, and I crucified the man out in the open. Statler and Waldorf were out in force as well, trying to take credit for Bryndon's kills. It was evident since the wolves had very little damage to their bodies, indicating the spiritual damage that Bryndon's magics inflict upon his enemies. Let them know I bagged the Alpha. Pussies. We gathered together back in the church to go back over what happened with the Bishop, who spent a good deal of time holding his guts inside of himself. He got some healing help from Moira, bless her heart, just before she and Errki went to check on the children. Rudolf Van Richten was down here as well, apparently haven gotten her just before me, but how he slipped past Kiril without a fight is beyond me. Maybe that handy Greater Invisibility he so loves. After some talk about cutting the tongues out of the monks to make sure the word of Vallaki's protection being gone doesn't begin spreading around the city, we got some info from the Bishop about one of the children who help around the church, Milivoj. To locate him, we take a visit to Blinsky's, whom I quickly learn is a pedophile and apparently uses his own hairs in his dolls so he can scry on anyone in possession of one of them. Which apparently now include several of our party. The boy was supposed to be in the orphanage, but some powerful, dark force was blocking our attempts to locate him. Figuring that 100% meant he was there, we left to go find the boy. I'm going to gloss over this because I hate children, but basically Marushka and Oswald gained us entry and we went upstairs to find the boy who seemed to be in possession of a necklace of very dark power. With some usage of several Protection from Evil and Good spells, we removed the necklace from the boy and end up taking it back to the Bishop and Van Richten. Rudolf suggested we allow him to toss it into the depths of Lake Zarovich, which, honestly, was the best idea any of us had. Hopefully the old man keeps his word and doesn't try to fuck us over with this somehow, but we'll see. Tired and just done with shit for the day, we all crash down in the basement of the church with the Bishop and monks, Rudolf included, drinking ourselves to sleep. Leave it to my luck to have us awaken the next morning to some fuckhead going around the city crying about how so much special "we" are, and how "we" fended off Strahd's forces and blah blah blah.. I'm going to stab this fucker and go back to sleep. Happily, I might add. Don't want to get arrested, after all.

Hunters in this place are all just fuckboys, change my mind.
Session 8, Sept 12, 2020

I stayed behind with Ezmerelda and Rudolf after the others went back into the Inn, hoping to glean some more useful information from them about our enemy. To be honest, the rest of them are fools for not taking this chance to learn as much from these two as we can. Of course it helped that Ezmerelda was pretty easy on the eyes, too. Wouldn't have minded losing a few hours of sleep with her. Little did I know I wouldn't be getting any sleep this night regardless. The time spent with Van Richten was not for naught, however, as I learned of several locations and a good deal of the layout within Castle Ravenloft itself. I suspect we will eventually have to face Strahd himself directly at some point; we had best be as prepared as possible. Despite my attempts to stay with Ezmerelda for the night, I was rebuked and ended up back inside the Blue Water Inn. I saw several of the party along with Moira downstairs drinking and carrying on, and decided to retire early. As if this land couldn't fuck with me enough, Marushka had decided to shack up with one of the patrons of the Inn, and we all learned this because they fucked for hours and the walls are pretty thin. I'm not entirely beyond the thought that she's doing this for all the shit I gave her about Kiril. I'm so fucking done with every other hunter in this whole god damn...country? Sure, I'll go with that. And, OF COURSE, I can't unhappy about this. Why? IT'S A FUCKING CRIME HERE. Also, for that little extra dash of 'fuck you' on top of it all, the man was another hunter. Does she just hate me in particular? Did I say something offensive while I was drunk? Instead of sleeping I went downstairs to drink with Moira until she passed out. Lightweight. At FuckYou o'clock some prick in a guard outfit came in and demanded that I identify and register my weapons. Please give me a reason, you irritable twat. Maybe it was the drink in me, but I was certainly ready to show just how many ways I could fucking murder every single person in here if I wanted. I complied, like the bastard I am, and laid my fucking ARSENAL on the table. At the least it made the guard fuck off. While packing up my shit, Bryndan and Marushka decided to come downstairs. Great. Just what I needed right now. I think they tried to say something to me, but I was so pissed I just walked out. Here I was, thinking I'd try to do something nice for a change, and the very IDEA being placed out in the universe made it decide to make me regret that decision within a day. My mindless wanderings caused me to end up at the Baron's... Bergermeister's...? The asshole responsible for the parties and the no unhappiness law. His place. There was a crowd about and I blended in easily to get a closer look. People trying to (as happy as possible) get inside and fight out what happened to their friends and loved ones who had been taken inside and never come out, bitching about these festivals every 10 days.. that sort of thing. The place is heavily fortified. It would be difficult to get in just myself, much less the entire party, saying nothing of Oswald the Graceful in his plate mail and Errki Silentasabagofbrokenglass-singer. I spent the better part of the day watching the goings on of the place, trying to get a read on anything useful; people coming and going, guard shift rotation, and the like. At any one time, the man can assemble a squad of 60 armed men at a moment's notice. Not great odds, even for me. What else caught my eye was the repeating visits of messengers coming and going. Keeping observation of the grounds and guards much like myself, if I had to judge by their movements. You know, shit a real hunter should be able to notice. Figuring I'd gotten all I could from this place, I decided to to follow them in secret back to wherever it was this info was going; see who else was wanting to keep an eye on these goings on. Turns out they were sending info back to Fiona Wachter, another powerful personage in the city, and the one currently opposing what was going on to the best of her abilities within the confines of the law. I pulled a few strings and managed to get a brief audience with her. The experience was honestly the most terrifying thing that has happened to me since I arrived. She not only knew me, and knew the rest of the party, but how we arrived in Barovia, and when. She knew things she shouldn't know. No one short of Strahd with his powerful scrying ability. If not for the church, I almost would have assumed it was Strahd before me in disguise. The day was late, and there would be far too much to discuss. Let's be honest, I'm not much of a talker when its not about me and I'm not drunk. As if the universe was giving me a brief reprieve from kicking me in the dick as it has been the last few days, Lady Wachter invited us all to dinner the next night so we could speak on matters. Good. This would be better with everyone. ...it would've been better if Elaine were still here. I made my way back to the Blue Water Inn after stopping by and getting some daggers silvered and conveyed to the rest of the party who was there the events of my day. Blame it on my lack of sleep, but I have neglected to mention that our ally Kasimir had been in town along with Moira. With growing suspicion of Rahadin possibly being in town, Kasimir was keeping a close watch on Ireena. That's good. Not having gotten any sleep the night before, I once more headed to my room to try and get some sleep. Sure do hope Oswald doesn't get drunk and no one except Kasimir is left to escort Ireena back to the church for the night all alone and something bad should happen to them... ...Sure do.

The One I'd Like to Forget
Session 7, August 15, 2020

After a very long night and hardly any sleep, I managed to finally calm my mind enough to go to sleep in one of the rooms in the windmill. I kept replaying Elaine's death over and over, trying to come up with... something. Anything. Wanting to be able to fix my mistake. It was enough to sober me up, honestly. Sure, I didn't get along with the girl that well, but she was supposed to be under my care. Maybe it would've done us all better for Marushka to have saved her instead of me. I wish I could say that sleep was a welcome reprieve but I awoke in the morning with a sense of urgency. I heard a sound, a noise tickling my ears that snapped me awake. As I looked outside I saw a mass of crows unlike any other approaching us. I knew at once this was not a good sign. The mass of birds began bombarding themselves into the side of the windmill with reckless abandon. It sounded like a sickening hail. I dressed and ran downstairs as fast as I could to alert the others and get everyone outside before this all came crashing down on top of us. I was... mildly successful. Errki had finished stonecarving a coffin to lay Elaine to rest but hadn't gotten her in it by the time this all happened. So he ran downstairs with Elaine's body to give her peace in her last place of rest while the rest of us escaped. Well.. almost the rest of us. The damn fool Oswald noticed Errki going down into the basement instead of outside and followed so he could make sure no one was left behind. All the fool accomplished was ensuring that two people got left behind instead of one. Before I could even think about going back inside for him, the entire Windmill was crushed by a concentrated sphere of crow and dropped straight down onto Oswald and Errki. Fuck me and our luck. We tried to start going through the rubble to dig the two out when some more undead decided it would be a good time to show up and bother us for awhile. I'm growing more and more tired of the undead that plague these lands. But I'm also getting better at killing them. Hunting them. Learning their traits and patterns. Oh yes, they will soon become my prey much like the beasts of this land. We dealt with the walking dead in quick response and spent the rest of the day digging out our companions. They were none the worse for wear, which was good news. I don't know if this group could've handled one of them dying in that collapse as well. I tried not to speak too much to Bryndan, for fear of hearing him giving me the lashing I'm due. As we proceeded on towards Vallaki, I kept my senses about me as we traveled but I got no senses of any beasts near us. The only thing we encountered on our way was some blood and wolf tracks. Thankfully, no sign of the children that Errki released from the Windmill, but given this land I'm not so ignorant to think that every single one of them made it to Vallaki unscathed. We did end up finding a set of massive wagon tracks leading the way towards Vallaki. Whatever it was must have been massive to leave some tracks. At this point, I'd rather not find out what it is. As we got to the fork in the road between Vallaki and Castle Ravenloft, we came across the same black carriage that Rahadin appeared before us in, though thoroughly damaged as if some great thing had slammed into it at high speed. Oswald could still detect the presence of unseen horses that pull the vessel, but we decided not to pry any further to the wreckage and get Ireena to Vallaki as soon as possible. We camped before the gates of Vallaki as it was falling deeper into the nights, and decided it better to wait until the 'morrow to try and gain entry. Strahd's minions are denizens of the night and with a half-orc in our group (which we'd already seen the prejudices of in this land), we decided it best to not have to deal with people thinking we work or are somehow in league with their devil. The next day we approached the gates, and after a simple test of silver, they let us pass. The rest of the journey to the city was uneventful and we made it to Vallaki finally. Sadly, it was soon apparent that the state of Vallaki was not as hospitable to someone such as myself as I would have liked. Unhappiness is a crime with a punishment of imprisonment in this city. Fuck me. We went to the church first, mostly because we felt it would be the best first place to take Ireena to find out what they could do to protect her from Strahd. While Oswald's summoned steed, undead as it was, passed the gates and entered the city with us just fine, it was unable to remain on this plane inside the boundaries of the church proper. The half-orc's physical deficiencies would soon be remedied after we entered the church thankfully by the local Bishop. Recognizing a warrior of the faith, the man immediately cast a spell that restored Oswald his eyes, good as new. He was less so inclined to accommodate Errki or mine's request. Wanted us to prove ourselves or some shit to the people of the city. Whatever. He agreed to keep Ireena safe and even led us to the underground area of the church where the robed remains of a long-dead holy man were displayed; apparently so powerful that Strahd couldn't even enter the city. While Oswald and Ireena agreed to take shelter here at the church, we all went to the Blue Water Inn where we could find lodgings for the rest of us who didn't care to crash at the church, as well as find some information on the state of things here in the city and even find some work. You know, our little Do-This list for his holiness to give us assistance. Much of the outside of the city as well as inside was decorated with wolf heads, apparently in regards to some celebration that was to be going on soon to... mock Strahd? I don't know. It sounded stupid. While I didn't for the display, I did notice the professionalism of the way the heads were removed. Whoever hunted the beasts were professionals. If I hadn't already written that crackpot of a hunter Kiril off as a corpse, I would have immediately come to the conclusion that this precision was far beyond him. I had begun to wonder how I could repay Marushka for saving my life (several times, admittedly) back at the windmill, as we'd arrived at an actual city for the first time since being brought to this godsforsaken place. She's beautiful, no doubt. A night with her would be treasured by any man, surely. We didn't really seem to.. get on much, to be honest. I'm not really sure why. I know I gave her a lot of shit about Kiril, but honestly... I fear it was simply a way for my pride to protect itself. She had seen firsthand what I'm capable of, and yet seemed to have something of a crush or infatuation with Kiril from the moment we met him. I hated it. But.. I realize that she was not deserving of my ire. Not in that way. Maybe I could buy her something nice? Apologize, and thank her for her support. It would be a blatant lie to say I could have made it this far without her. I'll tell her soon, I think. Elaine's passing has had me thinking about how quickly any of us could be taken. I don't want to leave something unsaid and regret it for the rest of my life. Or afterlife. Either way. There was information to be heard, work to be had, and I needed to be drunk yesterday. There was something about a winery, but fuck if I can recall it now as I recall my thoughts to put to parchment. Moira was here, I was delighted to discover. Apparently she was driving the boat on wheels that left the tracks we had been following and plowed into Rahadin's carriage. We had a good laugh at that and exchanged some stories and drinks. Still doesn't seem interested, but I have a nagging suspicion its because she's married, despite the whole situation with that being fucked. What did stand out, however, was a half-elf who kept rambling on about some stories and juggling or whatever. More importantly, he seemed to be capturing the attentions of Marushka and Ireena. It may have been a case of jealousy rearing its ugly head, but I was not about to let either of them be bewitched by some tavern boywhore. While Bryndan and I approached to let this half-elf know the two women were with us, his focus seemed to shift from just the women to all of us. I would have bet money that "Come around back to my wagon and see my tiger" was the worst euphemism I had ever heard, he was encouraging the rest of us to join as well. While me and the girls I could understand if the half-elf swung like that, it's another thing to invite the dwarf, the half-orc, and the boy. He seemed genuine enough, at any rate. And even if he did have a tiger, he'd be a fool to try and cross the lot of us all at once. So we went. Like fools. As we entered the wagon, the man removed his disguise and introduced himself as Rudolf von Richten, a hunter. A crafty one at that. He presented Ireena an item, a necklace, if I recall. The Amulet of Ravenkind. With him inside the wagon was indeed a tiger, looking at Marushka with a murderous intent. Like its owner, it seemed to have a distaste for the Vistani. Next to the tiger was a beautiful woman, sharpening an axe. Ezmerelda d'Avenir was her name, and she was a hunter trained by Van Richten as well. She apparently lost her leg to the vampire, and was in hiding due to his powerful scrying ability. I like strong women. She was certainly my type, and while we all talked on, I tried to learn as much as I could from the pair, as I was prepared to add the scourge of unlife as my enemies. A powerful relic that the Amulet of Ravenkind seemed to be, I had to ask Rudolf where he came across it. He stated with all seriousness (and worse still is I believe him) that he stole it from Strahd himself. .....fuck.

I don't even know where to begin with this one.
Session 6, August 1, 2020

As you can probably tell, if you've been reading these journals, that there's been a large gap between this and the last one. I'm not 100% sure where the pages went (I know I wrote them down somewhere), but I have a sneaking suspicion that fucking Erkki tore them out and used them to wipe his arse with. On second thought, that would be giving him the benefit of the doubt that he actually wipes his arse. Given that I don't recall where the last entry left off (isn't that the point of these, anyway?), I'll just resume with what I -can- recall. We had a run-in with a creature in the woods on the way to the Windmill (which apparently I had forgotten that we have the deed to, so I guess we own it?), and encountered that crack-pot of a hunter off on a small detour from the main path, wounded and otherwise being pathetic. It looked like there was no hope for him, so I took his magical sword. I think a couple of the others gave him some spare weapons so he could still defend himself, but I wrote him off as a lost cause. We came back after doing what he couldn't (like usual) only to find his body gone. All signs of the scene suggested that either he was a werewolf, or was taken by one. Either way, good riddance. We resumed our journey onwards towards the Windmill, and on one of the nights, we cast a spell to identify the cursed necklace I'd been carrying around. Turns out it's a Necklace of Lightning Bolt, and the curse, other than not being to remove it without a priest, is that each time the amulet is used, the necklace tightens until it kills the wearer. Unbeknownst to the party, I put it on before sleep to attune myself to the item. No telling when a quick sudden lightning bolt spell could come in handy. Not too far beyond, maybe a day or so?, we encountered a woman in our path, trying to give Erkki some food, if I remember right? A lot of this part just sort of blurs together in memory, given what comes next. We deduced fairly quickly that she was one of the hags we'd been warned about from the Windmill. Somehow, we managed to coerce the other 2 to appear as well. They tried to convince us to go to the Windmill to make a deal in exchange for freeing the children they were butchering to make pies with, but Oswald began to debate them on trying to get them to stay here and make a deal now, rather than go back to the Windmill, and give them any sort of advantage where they were more prepared than us. I had plotted quietly with Bryndan to "borrow" Oswald's horse and make a run for the Windmill to set it on fire, but ever since he lost his eyeballs (...maybe that happened during the fight against the creature that Kiril got his ass handed by? I don't remember. Memory's kind of fuzzy, given what happens a little later.), Oswald has been using this.. undead horse he summoned, to help him get around. Fucking creepy, but I have the suspicion that the curse of this place altered the spell or ritual Oswald used to summon the creature. Anyways, that plan became a wash, and instead they all decided to keep on arguing with the hags. Bryndan was about to chime in and add his own opinion to this exchange, but honestly, I had grown tired of the whole thing. So I hit the bitches with a lightning bolt. Fuck the curse. We began the fight right there on the spot. Erkki ran to the Windmill to save the children, I think out of some sense of needing to redeem himself for the shit we've been giving him ever since he ate that first kid-meat pie way back when. (It feels like we've been here much longer than we have.) I feel like we were woefully unprepared for this fight right now. Some of us didn't exactly get a good night's rest the night before, and I guess they hadn't recovered their magics, but.. I felt like we didn't have a choice. Our best bet to deal with them was there and then. I.. regret my decision already. The battle was arduous, taking out to the limits of our capabilities. Oswald lost his horse in the scuffle. We.. lost Elaine. I owe my life to Marushka, several times over I believe, and I don't know how to repay her. Unfortunately, there was nothing we could do for Elaine. At some point between my bouts of consciousness, Elaine had killed one of the oldest hag's (Morgantha was her name, now that I'm reflecting on it) daughters and downed the other one, earning her the ire of the strongest hag there. We tried to stop her, and eventually did, but not before the damage had been done. We spent the night in the Windmill, and Oswald gave Elaine her last rites and Erkki made a sort of stone coffin for her to be laid to rest (...is it in poor taste to think that she finally got laid somehow?). We're picking up our journey and resuming onwards towards Vallaki. I don't feel like I should tell him, but I'll be keeping a closer eye on Bryndan from here on. I was hired to protect him and his sister, and even though no one could have foreseen us all being taken to this cursed land, I still feel largely responsible for not preventing Elaine's death. I won't blame the boy if he gives me shit about not protecting her. He would be right, after all. I can't ask for his forgiveness, but I'll try my best to make sure he makes it home alive, even if it costs me my life...

Beginning to See the Truth
Session 3, Mar 24, 2020

So turns out Strahd von Zarovich himself had attended this old man's funeral. He was controlling the beasts outside the village. Go figure. "The Devil" himself decided to show up to the Burgermeister's wake, because "he was a good man" and "his death was unfortunate". Oddly.. comforting words from someone supposedly "The Devil". Shit went down from near the get-go, once people began to realize who he was. Of course, -we'd- never seen 'im, so we didn't quite realize what was going on at first. It became apparent to me fairly quickly when the girl we had planned to guard and escort to Vallaki, specially to make sure this man gets ahold of her, started walking towards him with a blank look. Something wasn't right. It was about this time when stepped around and put himself in between us, breaking the contact that was somehow compulsing the girl. stepped in for some reason and tried to pry the girl away from me, but she has the strength of a newborn infant. Next thing I knew, the man -turns into bloody MIST- right in front of us and just fucks off, after declaring we were going to bring the girl to the village gates tomorrow. Bold of him to assume we were going to do that, but then again, everyone keeps saying he's the devil. During his spiel, he brought to light that Oswald was a half-orc, and made a group of the villagers that were in attendance grab their pitchforks (WHO THE FUCK BRINGS PITCHFORKS TO A FUNERAL?!) and decide that Oswald needed to die in particular. We weren't trying to kill the folk, deluded as they were, and it didn't take much to take this out of combat, thanks to an effort of disarming, some levitation, and a sleep spell. Bryndan Carudas Chandler did decide to kill a man by grabbing his face and pumping necrotic energy into him until he turned into a nasty soup, but shit happens. We can't all be saints. About this time things started going to shit inside the church. Apparently the boy locked under the church who's dad just claimed he was sick (I did mention that before, yeah?) had been starved (feed a cold, starve a fever, I guess?) and turned into a Vargeist - some sort of vampire spawn. Having dealt with the citizens, we all dashed inside the church as fast as we could. With some support from Ireena Kolyana and Ismark Kolyanovich, and a good bit of skill with a whip if I do say so myself, we kept the creature pinned down until it was killed. At which point, the Priest fainted. Lovely. We composed ourselves as best we could, while Oswald went and buried the vampire spawn out in the graveyard. I placed the Priest in his chambers in hopes that maybe he would come to grips with everything in the morning. We followed Ismark and Ireena back to their home to sort out the situation we were left in and get a few hours sleep in before we left the next morning, needing all the daylight we could get. The Church tolled once that night for the passing of the Son. After breakfast, we headed back into the village to negotiate passage for all of us to Vallaki with the Vistani. With proper encouragement and coin, they agreed. The trip on the road was fairly peaceful, or at least as peaceful as things could get in this godsforsaken place. That is, until this jackass wearing furs that Marushka Dragomir-Belmont was just -gushing- over steps out of the woods and is like "Oh hey, there's some Wights ahead, and if you pay me money, I'll clear them for you". What a bunch of rubbish. "Greatest hunter in the land" my left arsecheek. The dwarf (see last journal entry for opinion on THAT piece of work), tries to run off into the mist after the codger, but Oswald stepped in and caught him, letting the fucker get away. Kiril Stoyanovich I believe was his name, but honestly I didn't care to remember. Good riddance. Should've let the dwarf go run off into the mists as well, I'd say. After that, we continued on until the Vistani decided to pull in to the local moot and have a time for us to see their Seer. Come to think of it, I think she possessed one of them back in town and told us to come see her now that I'm writin' shit down. We get to the campgrounds (I'm calling it) and we immediately set off to go see this "Madam Eva", 'cuz fuck me if we shouldn't go see what's going on, maybe try and get some supplies from the gypsies or whatever else have you. Noooo, let's go runnin' off straight to the old bat. We all pile into her wagon (somehow. And thankfully -that- wasn't a euphemism for something else.), and she basically calls me out to sit down and do me a readin'. This is, of course, AFTER she points out something from our past, near as I can tell, likely in some attempt to prove she's legit. Alright, I get it. You can see things. Why else would they call you a Seer? [Insert Reading of Cards here] As we finished up the reading and began to work out what it could all mean, we suddenly heard the sounds of commotion and fire coming from outside the wagon....

Fucking Dwarves.
Session 2, Mar 21, 2020

We got off the Gypsy's Fury and almost immediately met a fucking dwarf. This is where it began. So we meet this fucking dwarf covered in blood and gore, and he claims he was in Neverwinter just the night before, though he was with his brothers in a cave, woke up, and now he was here. Wherever 'here' was. Barovia, we told him, and he looked at us like -we- were the crazy ones. He didn't seem to be crazier than that, and Oswald confirmed he didn't seem to be undead so we agreed to let him come with us. First mistake. As we followed our instructions, we headed north into the forest so we could make it to the road that led to Barovia. This place is crawling with beasts and all manner of unpleasantness, but we carried on until we came across a small group of wolves. Only 3 of them, but still enough to worry about, given the younger ones with us. I've dealt with wolves before, and I figured I could try and convince them that we weren't a group to be tangled with, and they should just move on uneventfully. Of course, talking with beasts is a very delicate action, so of course the fucking dwarf barbarian we picked up began screaming like a fucking idiot and put all my work to naught as it triggered the wolves to fight. Of course we dispatched them fairly easily, but this was only beginning of the shitty day. A larger wolf the size of a fucking bear showed up, but as we fled (I'm not stupid) it didn't pursue to attack, it instead just seemed to.. watch. Or maybe herd us a direction. I'm not entirely sure. At some point we came across a strange well in the middle of the forest, but we decided not to use it and go past. No signs of civilization, there was no telling what may be in the well or what it could be contaminated by. We eventually made it to the road proper, but now it was pretty late at night. We made camp off the side of the road since it seemed like the beasts were keeping away from it for the most part, so it seemed safest. I took first watch along with Elaine, as we didn't want to get into a situation where the Chandlers were taking watch together. Everything went smoothly for the watch and we went to bed. The next morning shortly after took down camp and continued on towards Barovia, we encountered a wagon of gypsies heading west as well to the city. We traveled with them and asked a few questions, but honestly I was just thankful to have some more company on the roads. The beasts would be wary to try attacking such a larger group. And thankfully they had some room in their wagon, so we got the dwarves a lift as well as the Chandlers off the road. Everything went smoothly until we got to the checkpoint gate. The gypsies got to go on, but the guardsmen needed to make sure we weren't folk up to no good and tasked up with going north into the forest again to find out what happened to 2 other guardsmen that hadn't returned to their posts from an investigation they left on the night prior. So of course we headed back into the forest. About an hour in, we found 2 people hunkered over bodies that matched the descriptions we were given for the missing guardsmen. Found out quickly that these were vampires. Some of my family had dealt with them before, but out around Neverwinter, vampires aren't a problem we Belmont's really ever had a need to deal with before. It was the beasts that was more the threat. Barovia is no Neverwinter. These vampire are quick, they regenerate, and seemed to have a weakness for radiant damage. Of the two we encountered - a male scout and a female warrior - we ended up completely destroying the male, and wounded the female, but with their physical regeneration, probably no more than her pride. She ended up taking a chunk of hair from Ecchi's beard (the new dwarf), and ripped off Elaine's ear, despite my best efforts. Looks like she wanted personal effects, likely to be able to scry. Nothing to do for it now. Upon returning to the checkpoint and returning the bodies of their fellow guardsmen, they gave us some paltry coin and let us go on before freaking out at the news that vampires had killed their men. They threw open the gates and fled. Full-sprint, non-stop, all the way to the town. We had the time, so we made our way to Barovia at our own pace, arriving right around sundown. In search of lodgings for the night, we came across a woman selling pies. THE FUCKING DWARF took one. Should have -known- something was up because IT WAS FREE. But NO. We, of course, found out the next day that the pies were made from CHILDREN, AND THIS FUCKING DWARF. I can't.. I can't even. We made it to the tavern, I don't fucking remember the name. Burgermeister was there. Or his son, specifically, who had just become the new one. The fuck is a Burgermeister anyways? Basically we were told that the lord of this whole area was a Vampire named Strahd. More vampires. Fucking lovely. He needed our help dealing with his sister, and we agreed; not the least of which for the fact that he still paid us up the 4,000 gold that the note we had promised for making the journey out here. He would give us the details tomorrow when we met up at his home. He paid for our lodgings and beer for the night, gave us a map of the area, and I stocked up. The next morning we found a note from Moira. She'd left us early in the morning and basically took all the dwarfs in the area (somehow) on a crusade against this Vampire Strahd, feeling she could do it better than us (I think the letter said she was trying to protect us, really but whatever). My voice of sanity in the rest of the mess was now gone. It'd been some time, but now I went back into my cups. Why not? Still better company than most of this lot. Especially the boy and his fucking spider. A gypsy woman approached us before we left, which immediately gave Elaine a hardon. She was a looker, this one, no doubt, but I was still rather morning the loss of my friend. She knew what we'd encountered just this far in this godsforsaken land, and then went and gathered up a dozen dwarven cripples and left to lead them on a fucking crusade against a powerful Vampire she was woefully underprepared to deal with. She was as good as dead. Fucking dwarves. I accepted this. Of course that didn't stop Elaine from explaining to others that I was merely a drunk and constantly angry, but hey, what the fuck do I know? The shopkeeper had nothing I needed, and directed me instead to the Church, as I was in need of Holy Water and (armed with some new information) stakes. Apparently you can kill a vampire by staking the bitch in its heart. Of course THIS GODDAMN PLACE had its own bout of troubles, with the Priest being fucking crazy and apparently having his son locked up underneath the Church. Oh, and the boy is a fucking vampire. Did I mention that? THAT'S going to be dealt with sooner or later. We ended up not wanting to make a ruckus here until we'd talked to the Burgermeister, as I still needed this old coot to make me some holy water and I didn't want to do anything that might damage his calm, if you get my meaning. So we pressed on for now, and met up with the Burgermeister to find out what was going on with his sister and what all needed to be done. Turns out he wants us to escort his sister across the country (didn't retain WHY, something about attacks, as if they couldn't attack her anywhere), but she refused to go until her father was buried properly. We took the body back to the church and somehow the crazy coot snapped out of his stupor long enough to agree and take the next 2 days preparing a service for the old man. Everything seemed to go well so far, but when I tried to track the local beasts in the area, they had completely fucking surrounded the village. Something BAD is about to happen...

The Undead Cruiseship - Arguably Still Better Than Carnival
Session 1, Feb 29, 2020

I am so fucking done with the undead. If I never seen another undead horror for the rest of my life, I may just die a happy man. ...Maybe. So we pick up right from where we left off. Having dealt with the thieves and found the Writ of Passage and the promise of 4,000 gold, we decided to pick up what supplies we could from Waterdeep and meet back up at the Gypsy's Fury to embark on our journey. I took it upon myself to seek out a member of the Fury's crew, and thankfully found one, not too far off from the ship itself. Not a talkative man, but he told me what I needed to know. Looks like the trip between here and.. wherever the Fury was going was a 3 day trip. Well, I don't care much for boatfood anyways - you know how sailors can get with their foodstuffs. Better get my own. I picked up roughly 2 weeks of rations, because Lord knows you can't predict what might happens, and honestly I wouldn't put it past the sailor to be lying to me; better safe than sorry. Basically had everything else I needed anyways, so I headed back to the Fury. Upon arriving to the Fury, I presented ourselves to the captain - one Edmund D'Avenir. Interesting fellow. Little eccentric if you ask me, but if you are asking me, I'd say that any man been sailing for longer than 5 years probably is. He confirmed our writ with no questions asked, and told us our cabins were down below on the first level below deck. Dunno what it was called. I'm not a fuckin' sailor. Had sleeping quarters as well as the Galley, and really, that's all I cared about. I could spend 3 days sleepin' easily until we got to our destination. But, 3 days by one's self is awful lonely. Managed to convince Moira to share a room with me, "for safety reasons." None of us thought this all was 100% legit, and if we ended up being attacked, I'd rather the healer be with me. She was hesitant, but didn't object. Lucky me. We stayed in cabin and talked a bit until we decided to nap or so. I think? It was a long day. Little did we know the night would be longer. Apparently a thick mist had rolled in once we were off, and most of us didn't seem to notice or care. It was long after sun down that we first heard the noises. Moira and I had woken already, and were talking over some rations and otherwise getting along proper. Like I said, I don't trust boatfood unless I have to. She seemed to be of the same mind. I don't remember what happened here, I may have been drinking, but someone saw a ghost woman, and Oswald came down from the deck to tell us that the ship was haunted. Lovely. Against my better judgment, but in the spirit of earning my pay, I went with the brats downstairs. Lo and behold, the whole fuckin' crew were undead zombies or some such. Foul things, really. We came across Bori, the cook (what did I say about boatfood?), running from the rest of the zombies. We tried to save him, but apparently our little ghost friend thought it would be a lovely time to possess Moira just then, and she brained the poor sod like I seen a man do to watermelon at a stage show. Funny guy, that. The showman, not Bori. One by one the ghost women tried and possessed us all, luring all the zombies into attacking those what she took over. Through guile and some clever tactics (and a fair bit of emergency healing, mind) we somehow managed to route the zombies and went back up to our rooms, where we barricaded ourselves for the rest of the night. Why the ghost bitch didn't just possess someone and makes them try to leap to their deaths off the boat, I don't know, but I guess that quality of thinking is why evil always triumphs over good. ...or some shit. I don't know. I just repeat what I hear. We ended the first night almost to dusk, and decided to immediately get a full sleep while we could, sure of ourselves (somehow) that we would be undisturbed during the daylight hours. Seems like we were right. We managed to get up for the day around.. 2.. 3pm I'd say, and went to have a talk with Captain D'Avenir. Dodgy fucker basically spilled the beans that the whole boat was cursed, and we had to endure 3 nights of this undead bullshittery, lest we die and join his crew. It was at this point I almost wanted to believe this was actually the man Barbosa I had heard about through stories, as his tale seemed to match up quite well, but in the end I chose to believe D'Avenir's story. We decided then not to deal with two more nights of this shit, and proceeded to the bottom deck where we had been told upon boarding the ship not to go. Clearly something was down there, and fuckall of the Captain knew, because his cursed arse was forced to stay on deck, maintaining the ship. So we marched down to the bottom to deal with the beasties (hopefully) for good. With most of the crew somehow "alive" again, and back to their regular duties on the ship (including Bori, who seemed to remember everything, including getting his brain caved in by the sassy dwarf woman), we found only 8 undead fuckers down below, and the ghost bitch from before back to mess with us. Thankfully, I had heard tell in my travels that people possessed couldn't be possessed again in 24 hours, so all of us were safe... save for the childboy. Having learned some things from the night before, we went back in with a new plan, and a new formation. The 8 zombies basically crumpled pretty quickly, but then a giant undead.. golem thing(?) emerged from some unnatural darkness and begin its attack as well. We were far better skilled this time than the night before, and we worked well in tandem with one another. Putting all of our skills to good use, as well as many coordinated tactics, we ended up defeating the undead creature, and securing clear passage for the next two nights. The ghostly woman didn't bother us again, thankfully. I'm so fucking done with this shit. Overall: 7/10 Would ride again. Pros: Lavish cabins and Galley (First day only), No other passengers to interrupt trip, Captain D'Avenir. Cons: Cursed, Undead Crew, whinging woman PMSing through the night, Captain D'Avenir.

Waterdeep and The Children
Session 0, Prologue

So it seems like the family name is getting around. Reputation, too. Not sure that I like that. Father accepted some hireling request from the Chandler family. Apparently, they're rich, and dear mommy and daddy don't want them runnin' off to Waterdeep on their own, but apparently can't be assed to stop them themselves. So, you know, why not hire a family of -beast hunters- to watch after them, eh? So, being the renown beast hunters that we are, they decided to ask us for help. Bloody hell. Turns out, Father thought this a great time for me to see some more of the world than just the forests around our lands. So I got volunteered to go. Shouldn't be too difficult, right? Just watch some kids, make sure they don't get killed, that sort of thing. Jesus, was I wrong. Thankfully, in my wisdom, I decided to go see the Church (AGAINST my better judgment) to see the likelihood of getting one of their Paladins on employ to help me out for awhile. After some negotiations (for no pay, and no duration of contract), I managed to enlist the aid of a half-orc Paladin-in-training named Oswald. Lucky me he jumped at the chance to protect 2 'innocent children', because lord knows the 15 gold in my pocket wasn't near enough to actually pay for services, so honestly, I decided to take what I could get. With that in hand, as well as a picture of the children (I say children, but one of them is close to my age. The other barely a man. 15? 16? Young.), we headed out to rendezvous at this upscale Tavern/Inn in some of the richer parts of Waterdeep (The Yawning Portal?) where they were said to be heading. Oswald and I met up with the children right after the younger one, Brynden (was it?), had apparently just summoned a new familiar for himself, blowing all his pocket money on material components to do so. This seemed to make Elaine, the older sister, jealous that he performed the rite first. On top of some other problems she was having. Turns out the boy summoned a fucking -spider-. I hate spiders. Too many legs and eyes. And this one can -talk-. I swear to every God that gets prayed to, I'll kill that little fucker sooner or later. On the topic of Elaine's problems, turns out some dwarf had peddled her some magical book she was expecting, most of which seemed to be one of the reasons the two made the trip out here to Waterdeep to begin with. We met up with the dwarf, who, un-fucking-surprisingly, didn't have her wares. Seems like they were stolen by some local thieves, and the dwarf, Fenri, if I remember his name right, didn't have the balls to go get his property back. Some thieves, though. Fenri knew right where they was in town, but couldn't go it alone, it seems. We were about to be off when he graciously offered us the services of his wife, at no charge. Not sexual services, mind you, but healing-type. Name's Moira Hammersong. Turns out she's a cleric from some other local church. Seems he's been offering her up to any group of adventurers he came across, trying to get her killed. Some shit husband. She happened to walk in on him explaining all this, however. Ol' Fenri ends up giving her the slip while we were talking, but I happened to see where he went. I offered her the info in exchange for her actual services. ...Still not sexual. She's a looker, though. I mean, for a dwarf. Not seen too many dwarf women, honestly. We found ourselves on a street where the local thieves' hideout was located, not sure how to approach the situation. Rich kid decided to just bribe the guards, giving them some gold, and not only did they fuck right off for us, they even told us which house specifically we were looking for. Guess nobility does have a little something going for it, even if you are a rich spoiled brat. Instead of wasting time to sneak in, I entered the home in a most courteous manner, and expressed my need to use their lavatory. Despite looking like one big outhouse, the thieves insisted they had no such facilities, but I knew otherwise. So they proceeded to pull weapons on us, and by rights we had to defend ourselves, forcing us to march into their home and slaughter them systematically. Guess that spider helped out a bit, too. Still gonna kill the fucker. It watches me, I swear it. After a rushed battle inside the house, because wouldn't you know it these asspirates had somehow managed to be keeping a DEMON IN A FUCKING BOX in their place, we left with what we came for, plus some hazard pay. Cracking open one of the crates, sand poured out of it and inside we found a Writ of Passage for a ship called the Gypsy's Fury, along with a note stating that whoever accepts the invitation and makes the journey, they'd be rewarded 4,000 gold. That's a lot of goddamn money. The kids of course were interested, because the girl wanted to buy some more books, and the boy... well, he's a boy, isn't he? My job being to see they stayed alive, if they decided to go I couldn't stop them. I did manage to convince Moira to come with us, thankfully. Her abilities as a cleric was incredibly helpful. And honestly, I think she has a thing for me. I'd almost argue that her being married was a hangup, but let's be honest here, it's clearly a shitshow of a marriage. He was just trying to get her killed off, wasn't he? We'll see how that goes. At the very least, she's better company than the rest of this crew, and seems to be the most level headed. Hopefully she sticks around...

Trevor Belmont

Trevor Belmont

Relationships

Marushka Dragomir-Belmont

Trevor Belmont

Daybreak Session 26 Jul 2, 2021

The Heart of the Matter Session 25 Jun 19, 2021

To Marushka:

Grave Robbing and the trouble with Undead. Session 24 May 22, 2021

Love in the time of Vampirism Session 23 May 15, 2021

A Vow Special Entry

What Goes On In The Dark (Powers) Session 22 Apr 24, 2021

I don't even have words for this bullshit. Session 21 Apr 10, 2021

The Beast of Mount Baratok Session 20 March 19, 2021

So that happened. Session 19 3/13/2021

...Fuck. Session 18, Feb 27

Whip > ChickenHouse Session 17, Feb 6

Lost and Found.. Session 16, Jan 23 2021

The Fallout of Argynvostholt Session 15, Jan 16 2021

Argynvostholt, so far... Session 13/14 Dec. 19 2020

Dinner Pt 2 Session 12 Nov 7, 2020

Dinner Pt 1 Session 11, Oct 31

A small amount of payback, but not nearly enough Session 10, Oct 10

Its hard to be right all the time. Session 9, Sept 26

Hunters in this place are all just fuckboys, change my mind. Session 8, Sept 12, 2020

The One I'd Like to Forget Session 7, August 15, 2020

I don't even know where to begin with this one. Session 6, August 1, 2020

Beginning to See the Truth Session 3, Mar 24, 2020

Fucking Dwarves. Session 2, Mar 21, 2020

The Undead Cruiseship - Arguably Still Better Than Carnival Session 1, Feb 29, 2020

Waterdeep and The Children Session 0, Prologue

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Daybreak
Session 26 Jul 2, 2021

The Heart of the Matter
Session 25 Jun 19, 2021

Grave Robbing and the trouble with Undead.
Session 24 May 22, 2021

Love in the time of Vampirism
Session 23 May 15, 2021

A Vow
Special Entry

What Goes On In The Dark (Powers)
Session 22 Apr 24, 2021

I don't even have words for this bullshit.
Session 21 Apr 10, 2021

The Beast of Mount Baratok
Session 20 March 19, 2021

So that happened.
Session 19 3/13/2021

...Fuck.
Session 18, Feb 27

Whip > ChickenHouse
Session 17, Feb 6

Lost and Found..
Session 16, Jan 23 2021

The Fallout of Argynvostholt
Session 15, Jan 16 2021

Argynvostholt, so far...
Session 13/14 Dec. 19 2020

Dinner Pt 2
Session 12 Nov 7, 2020

Dinner Pt 1
Session 11, Oct 31

A small amount of payback, but not nearly enough
Session 10, Oct 10

Its hard to be right all the time.
Session 9, Sept 26

Hunters in this place are all just fuckboys, change my mind.
Session 8, Sept 12, 2020

The One I'd Like to Forget
Session 7, August 15, 2020

I don't even know where to begin with this one.
Session 6, August 1, 2020

Beginning to See the Truth
Session 3, Mar 24, 2020

Fucking Dwarves.
Session 2, Mar 21, 2020

The Undead Cruiseship - Arguably Still Better Than Carnival
Session 1, Feb 29, 2020

Waterdeep and The Children
Session 0, Prologue