[[1491-01-08|<< 8 Hammer 1491]] | [[1491-01-10|10 Hammer 1491 >>]] ## 9 Hammer 1491 Trouble sleeping again. Ezmerelda was actually in her bed when I checked on her in the middle of the night. I'm glad she decided to take care of herself - still, I can't help but be a little disappointed that I couldn't carry her to bed. After breakfast, most of us - me, Skoll, Nia, Ezmerelda, Yesper, and Godfrey - set off for Tsolenka Pass, past which lies the Amber Temple. Yesper was mostly there to act as messenger in the case of our untimely deaths. If we didn't die, he and Godfrey both were to head back after we defeated the roc. We don’t want all our eggs in one basket, as Ezmerelda said. Someone has to carry on the fight. We came across more of Tural's clan before reaching the pass. These ones had weapons and were much more cautious than our old friend. They told us to leave after a bit of a standoff - we happily complied, though not before Skoll gave them food. I led the group through the rough mountain terrain. Near the bridge at Tsolenka Pass, we came across a gate dotted with vrock gargoyles - and though the gate opened, green fire met us on the other side. I hadn’t even carried one person over the fire when the gargoyles started to look more and more fleshly. I doubled back and landed next to the rest of my companions, and we were all ready to fight by the time the gargoyles had finished transforming. With Ezmerelda and Godfrey on our side, we defeated them without issue. Past the fate, the long, wide bridge stretched before us. It seemed like a great place for a giant bird to attack, but there was no discernable sign of the roc. Satisfied that we weren’t about to become bird food, we sent Godfrey and Yesper back with a message for Rictavio: we were carrying on to the Amber Temple. We started across the bridge. And then, appearing at the opposite side: a shadow of a man on a horse, the only notable markings on his person being the sigil of Strahd. When we got too close, he disappeared. Fucking Barovia. The wind and the cold were harsh. None of us were dressed for it, but we withstood the weather well enough. After sneaking past a very large goat, we approached the Amber Temple. While it was an impressive sight, it did nothing to help with the biting cold. We found an alcove outside the temple with a crack in the outer wall. Nia sent Ivie through the hole, and he reported back about the sight of a camped group, armed with the same axes as Tural's clan. Not great - but knowing they were there has helped us avoid them so far. Through the front entrance, the temple itself was very dark. Ezmerelda couldn’t see a thing, so I grabbed her hand to guide her. She allowed me, but she flinched, which didn’t feel too great. I considered letting go, but that would’ve been as stupid as doing it in the first place. Even though the temple seemed to be crawling with things ready to kill on sight - like giant amber guardians, for example - we also came across a few people who didn't immediately try to murder us. The first was a man with an imp familiar, who was in pretty rough shape before Skoll healed him. He was in the temple looking for treasure and forbidden secrets, acting as a wizard’s apprentice before the wizard got incinerated. The man - Vilnius - was not very helpful. The next guy we met tried to kill us with fire, but he had some know-how about the temple. He - Neferon, an arcanaloth previously contracted by Strahd - was willing to help us out in exchange for magical artifacts from Ravenloft. I wasn’t about to give the guy shit, but Nia agreed to bring him some back for him. Neferon led us through the temple,, seeking someone - a lich, namely - who would supposedly have more information on Strahd. Neferon failed to warn us about the trance-inducing statue before we were already passing by. All of us managed to resist it, with the exception of Ezmerelda. She was completely out of it, and kept trying to walk toward the statue, so I picked her up and carried her along. Seeing her unresponsive wasn't great - I wanted her to wake up and yell at me for carrying her or something. In the next room, there was a locked chest on the ceiling. I’m normally all about treasure, but I stayed back - I didn’t trust it at all. It took some magic, but Nia eventually got open. And then the floor disappeared from under them. I put Ezmerelda down - I figured she was safer standing in front of the statue - and jumped through the hole to join Skoll, Nia, and Neferon. Four specters swarmed into the room. I killed one, Neferon banished one, and Nia somehow managed to scare the other two into leaving. We went back up through the hole and I retrieved Ezmerelda. Nia was having doubts about meeting the lich, so she pulled out that little icon we found in Ravenloft and used it to do some light augury. Apparently satisfied with the statue’s symbol-based answer, Nia had us continue on. It's a good thing, too, because the lich had a whole lot of information for us once Skoll healed him and his memories. He introduced himself as Exethanter. He was a friendly, fun, helpful guy - but he definitely killed a bunch of wizards who were trying to keep the evil secrets of the place under lock and key, and he definitely helped Strahd become an immortal vampire. So there’s that. Exethanter told us about the place, and about Strahd. The temple itself houses vestiges of dead gods in sarcophagi, and those vestiges can give you dark powers as long as you accept their terms. Strahd came to the temple seeking immortality; he communed with the vestiges and made a pact - upon murdering his brother, he got what he was after. Wonderful. We decided it would be best to talk to these vestiges ourselves in order to learn more about Strahd. Exethanter agreed to guide us around. By the time we arrived at the first set of sarcophagi, Ezmerelda was still tranced. So, I used one arm to hold her, and put my free hand on a sarcophagus. I spoke to Dahlver-ner, He of Many Teeth, vestige of The Undying. Dahlver-ner, it turned out, had many teeth. He offered me three chances to reincarnate upon my death. In return, I would lose my teeth until the final reincarnation. I don’t have teeth currently - so it’s not like I would be missing out on much, at least in this life - but I still took my hand away from the sarcophagus. I didn’t even remember to ask about Strahd. I had realized pretty quickly that I was in over my head. I found that I don’t like the idea of making deals with gods, good or evil. We regrouped after our sarcophagi-experiences. Nia took a deal, apparently, and I was as surprised to hear this as I was worried. She got the ability to climb up walls like a spider; in exchange, she now has a third eye somewhere on her body, which would be funny if it didn’t suck so bad. As we were leaving the room, Ezmerelda finally snapped out of it. I quickly put her down, worried that she’d be upset that I was carrying her - especially considering how poorly she had taken me holding her hand earlier. But instead of chewing me out, she only quietly thanked me. We visited three other rooms with sarcophagi. Ezmerelda and I hung back in all of them; neither of us were really interested to see what the vestiges had on offer. I caught Ezmerelda up to speed while we waited. She was not at all a fan of Exethanter - doesn’t like liches, apparently. Personally, I didn’t see much of an issue with him being a lich. I was mostly concerned about the whole helping Strahd thing, even if he didn’t really know how it would impact the whole of Barovia. Ezmerelda also wasn’t thrilled to hear that Skoll and Nia were on board with the vestiges' pacts. Whispering, she told me that if either of them become some dark lord someday, she’s definitely going to have to kill them - while I didn’t think things were that dire, I was still pretty worried. She asked me if I was okay with it all. I told her that it’s their choice, which wasn’t really an answer. Regardless of my opinion on it, it was indeed their choice - and Skoll and Nia both ended up taking a deal beyond the one that Nia had already accepted. Skoll accepted the gift of Zantras, the Kingmaker, vestige of the Unyielding Mind. In exchange for being more charismatic, he can now no longer take no for an answer. Which, I must say, isn’t great - he was already pretty stubborn. Nia, on the other hand, accepted the gift of Seriach, the Hellhound Whisper, vestige of the - you guessed it - Hounds. She is now the proud owner of two hellhounds that only understand infernal, which she can now speak. Rather than explaining the downside, she showed it; when she spoke infernal, smoke poured out of her eyes and pores. It was kind of scary. Having made all our evil pacts for the day, Exethanter showed us to an old wizard’s room, which is where I write this now. It's freezing in here - I wish I had a blanket, or something. Skoll and Nia don’t seem to have suddenly turned evil, at least. They are much like their same old selves, with the addition of a few odd quirks. Still, I worry, especially with how Ezmerelda keeps squinting at them. Tomorrow we will leave the Amber Temple and head back to the tower. I am hoping we get lucky and miss the roc again - but if I was a lucky person, I would not be in Barovia. --- ## 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]]):** 01/09/1491