[[1491-01-04|<< 4 Hammer 1491]] | [[1491-01-06|6 Hammer 1491 >>]] ## 5 Hammer 1491 Today is my 19th birthday. Despite spending it in Barovia, the most of the day wasn’t terrible. My day started in the early hours, before the sun even thought to show; just as I predicted, sleep did not come easy last night. I have Strahd and his words to thank for that. I sought out Ezmerelda. I knew exactly where to find her - and sure enough, she was fast asleep at the desk on the top floor of the tower, books piled under her. I tried to convince her to go to bed. She wouldn’t go easy, so I decided to exact my revenge for the other day - I picked her up and carried her to bed. In return, she told me that she hated my guts. In the back of my mind, I knew that she wasn’t serious - just annoyed - and it certainly wasn’t the first time she’s told me as much. Still - and I feel extremely idiotic to admit this - I couldn’t help but feel a little hurt. It must’ve shown, because Ezmerelda clarified that she does not, in fact, hate me. The reassurance mostly just embarrassed me. Sleep remained elusive, but I managed to get a bit of rest before it was time for breakfast. Rictavio came in for Skoll’s food without issue, but I still had to go get him from outside. Ezmerelda came on her own. Even Pidlwick was there, happily whisking some water in a big bowl. After breakfast, I cornered Skoll. I wanted to know what was up with yesterday's wolf-induced breakdown. He told me, though not without hesitation. He started by telling me that he hasn’t always lived in a bog. While this makes sense in retrospect, it was kind of surprising to hear. When Skoll first got to the bog, he was lost and scared, until he eventually met a wolf spirit named Hati. Hati was Skoll’s first friend in a while, and he helped Skoll a lot - so much so that Skoll has trouble killing wolves, apparently. I asked Skoll if he thinks an incident like the one yesterday could happen again. When he answered in the affirmative, I tried to be patient and to understand. But I couldn’t help but be a little frustrated that he would just lay down like that. To state the obvious, I wouldn’t do the same if our positions were reversed - not when my friends were being attacked by wolves. I tried to keep my feelings about it to myself, but I still exited the conversation pretty quickly. Since I was already making my rounds, I found Nia next. She was sulking in some corner - which, understandable. I told her that I wasn’t going to ask how she is, since the answer was probably Not Great. I also told her that I wasn’t going to ask to talk about the meeting with Strahd at all, but that I'm around in any case. I have no idea if she appreciated it or not. After our fruitful heart to heart, I asked Nia to send Ivie to the church in Vallaki to inform Ireena that we didn’t die at Strahd’s. Probably should've done that after we got back yesterday, but we were all a bit distracted. While we were waiting for Ivie to return, Skoll walked out of the forest with a dire wolf in tow - and not just any dire wolf, either. A large, skeletal, spectral dire wolf named Hati. Skoll summoned him - which he admitted that he should have done sooner, but he didn’t really think about it until after he had talked to me. Hati is nice enough, I guess? It was strange, speaking to a skeleton in Sylvan. But I have little shock left in me at this point. Our message relayed, Ivie eventually returned. Afterwards, me, Skoll, Nia, Hati, and Ezmerelda headed for Argynvostholt. We were short on leads, not quite ready to take on the roc, and we figured that there might be something to discover in that revenant-ridden manor. We took our horses. Since Ezmerelda’s horses are of the ghostly, bound-to-her-wagon kind, I held out my hand for her to join me on my horse. She told me to scoot back. I stared at her for a long moment, but I eventually decided the opportunity was worth the hit to my pride. On the way, we came across two hunters on the path - it quickly became clear that these hunters were werewolves, if their fixation on Ezmerelda’s silver sword was any indication. There was a tense moment - and then Skoll gave them bread. The big one bursted into laughter. He asked if it was us who left that note in the bundle of clothes on the path from Barovia to Vallaki - which, I have to say, feels like years ago now. So we’re popular among the werewolves, who - it should be noted - do work for Strahd. Having accepted the bread, the hunters let us through without trouble, and then it was back on the road to Argynvostholt. We did not find any dusk elves in Argynvostholt this time. Instead, we found a little dragon made of smoke and ash. It led us through the manor, upstairs, into an audience hall. At the end of the hall was a throne occupied by a slumped-over revenant, a greatsword in his hand. He didn’t look angry, like the ones we faced the other day - he only looked tired. He spoke to us. Even gave us his name: Vladimir. Vladimir hates Strahd, which was good to hear. What was not so good to hear was that he hates him so much that he never wants his torment to end; he would not have Strahd dead for this reason. He wouldn’t budge, so we eventually left him alone. We found another revenant to talk to: Sir Godfrey Gwilym, a paladin who was/is in love with Vladimir. He recognizes how far gone Vladimir is, but he swore an oath to the man. Godfrey told us how to possibly get Vladimir to chill out a bit. We learned a bit about the place: namely, we learned that Strahd took the foundation of the knights' magic when he slayed the dragon Argynvost and took his skeleton back to Castle Ravenloft. He told us that if the skeleton were to be retrieved and laid to rest in Argynvostholt, the spirits of the order may be able to rest - including Vladimir’s. Skoll, of course, was all over this little quest. Bleeding heart that he is, he jumped at the chance to help. While I was inclined to help either way, my motives were a little more selfish. I could tell just by looking at him that Godfrey was powerful - and he did mention that he may be able to help us take on Strahd, should we retrieve the skeleton. After departing from Godfrey, we continued to follow the smoke-dragon through the manor. Along the way, the floor gave out under Skoll and Hati - but me and Nia managed to catch them. Eventually, the dragon led us up to the roof. Then the little guy turned into a huge, silver dragon. He pointed us toward a crypt on the grounds before disappearing. Having received that helpful little hint, we decided to get the fuck out of there so that we didn’t meet any more less-than-friendly revenants. I took the reins once we got back to our horses. Ezmerelda also got on the horse - though she did sit several inches away from me, and refused to hold onto anything other than the saddle. I’m starting to think that she thinks I smell bad, or something. Back at the tower, Skoll pulled me aside. Hati had disappeared by that point, but that’s where the conversation went; he and Hati had talked about the fight with the wolves, apparently. Hati had told him that to defend yourself from attackers is part of the order of nature, even if those attackers take the same general shape as a friend. So Skoll doesn’t think he’ll freeze up in the face of wolves next time. I’m glad, though I’m not sure why he needed Hati to tell him that he should defend himself against animals that are trying to kill him. We were in the dining room, discussing the plan for tomorrow - we decided that returning to Ravenloft and going after those bones was a solid idea - when I remembered that it’s my birthday. Skoll immediately left to bake a cake - well, several cakes. I was very appreciative. Nia, Skoll, Pidlwick, and I took some cake to Vallaki. The plan was to give some to Ireena, but Skoll brought enough for the whole town, so we stopped by the Blue Water Inn first. We caught up with Urwin and Danika. They’re trying to secure legal control over the town with their new land, but the burgomaster was being difficult. So we went and scared him. He agreed to resign and leave Vallaki, on the condition that he never sees us again. I was happy to agree - I’m tired of having to speak to the guy. Ireena was in the church, of course. She’s bored out of her mind there - I gave her my playing cards so that she can hopefully keep herself entertained for a bit, but I'm not sure how much they will help. As happy as she was to see us, I couldn’t help but feel sad. It sucks that she’s stuck in that little room all the time, just as she was in her village. But I suppose that we’ll get her out of there soon enough. We also stopped by Blinsky’s. We brought Pidlwick thinking that Blinsky would enjoy meeting the little man. Not only were we correct, but it turned out that Blinsky was already familiar with Pidlwick, along with the guy who made him: Fritz von Wreeg. He’s Blinsky’s inspiration, apparently. I immediately stopped giving a shit about that though, because Blinsky had new toys on display that he had modeled after me, Skoll, Nia and Ezmerelda. There was his classic merry-go-round design, but instead of a wolf chasing children, there was a donkey chasing Skoll. Then there was a doll with detachable heads, with a head after each of us. There were also ventriloquist dolls that shared our visage. It was wack as hell. I took the detachable-head doll - free of charge, since good old Blinsky didn’t want to make me pay on my birthday. I also took one of the ventriloquist dolls that looked like Ezmerelda, thinking she'd find it funny. I was anxious to get back to the tower, but it wasn’t a straight shot; we ended up running into another revenant. Skoll managed to talk our way out of a fight, but not before the revenant told us that he doesn’t trust Nia and that we should watch our backs around her. Dick. Back at the tower, I rushed upstairs to show Ezmerelda the doll. Even though she laughed, she didn’t seem to find it nearly as funny as I did. Not only did she call me a psychopath, but she wouldn’t let me get rid of the damn thing, either. So now I’m stuck with this doll of Ezmerelda, which is weird as fuck. I just wanted to show her. I didn’t have too much time to stew in the feeling, though. Rictavio called me upstairs and gave me a birthday gift - one that apparently he, Yesper, and Ezmerelda had managed to find and prepare together. It was a beautiful thing: a silver-blue locket and a clean black chain. Rictavio called it a frost necklace. I tried to open it, but didn’t have much luck. Neither did Nia or Skoll, so I guess that thing is staying shut tight forever. Still, it was very nice of them. It’s been a long time since I’ve received a gift for my birthday, and today I got two - a cake and a locket. Unfortunately, my good mood wasn’t to last. I was preparing Pidlwick for tomorrow’s venture to Ravenloft - teaching him a few hand signals - when I had a little bit of an episode. Yesper, Skoll, and Nia were in the room. Yesper asked me where I had learned the hand signals - I panicked, and said that I learned them from a book. I could tell that no one believed me. Then Nia said, “As you were, soldier,” saluted me, and left. It’s silly. I shouldn’t have let something so inconsequential ruin my entire day - I know that Nia didn’t mean anything by it. But ever since Strahd’s yesterday, I haven’t been able to clear my mind of them. There is little to do about it now. I wish I could just forget them all - and really, I’m halfway there. I can’t recall many names from training, or even from Beacon Cairn; only faces, and vague memories. I was never good at paying attention to the lot of them. They certainly didn’t pay attention to me. The fact remains that many of them are likely dead now. Front-line foot soldiers, all expendable in the eyes of the powers that be - and if I had stayed, I would have met the same fate as them. And yet I still feel guilty. But I can’t dwell on this any longer; it’s back to Ravenloft tomorrow. I’m just hoping that we don’t run into Strahd again - I don’t need him reminding me of any other faults. --- ## Page Tags/Properties **Tags:** #Journal **Category:** [[Journals and Writings.base|Journals and Writings]] **Character:** [[Krue d'Avenir|Krue]] **Campaign:** [[Curse of Strahd]] **Date ([[Calendar of Harptos|Harptos]]):** 01/05/1491