[[1491-01-10|<< 10 Hammer 1491]] | [[1491-01-12|12 Hammer 1491 >>]] ## 11 Hammer 1491 We didn’t make it to Ravenloft today. Skoll made a big breakfast this morning; vegetables, omelets, jam, pancakes - the works. I had hardly finished eating when Nia asked for one of my feathers. It turned out that she needed the feather to perform a ritual on the mirror from Vallakovich’s manor. Her explanation was enough for me - I plucked a feather from my wing and handed it over. While Nia was setting up, I asked Pidlwick for some help with the remaining fortunes. Based on his answers, our "knowledge of the ancient" is in the same room that we’re fated to meet Strahd. With that out of the question for now, we discussed how to proceed. Other than collecting the remaining fortune, there was still one big obstacle preventing us from taking on Strahd: Rahadin. Through her ritual, Nia learned about an assassin’s ghost stuck inside the mirror, which we could command. We discussed the possibility of sending the assassin after Rahadin, but we eventually decided that it probably wouldn’t work. We also figured that it would just alert Rahadin to the fact that we were trying to kill him. I asked Pidlwick where Rahadin usually hangs out in the castle, but I couldn’t really get a straight answer. Pidlwick doesn’t like the guy, and so he doesn’t tend to follow him around. I don’t blame him - I don’t like the guy, either. Even without a clear idea of where to find Rahadin, we geared up for Ravenloft - it was to be me, Nia, Skoll, and Godfrey. First, though, we needed to visit the Luna River Vistani camp; we had a lot of treasure to sell. The journey to the camp was without issue. After we sent Luvash down to inspect our treasure, we pulled Kasimir aside. We told him about our trip to the Amber Temple, and we told him about our plans for Rahadin. Kasimir said that he had a request for us. He gave us his knife - we received the message. After trading with Luvash, I ended up with more than double the money I had woken up with. I have no idea what I’m supposed to do with all this gold, but I’m not going to complain. I also picked up some potent alcohol (called "kumiss") while I was there - 40 gallons of it, because Luvash wouldn't sell me anything less than a barrel. Whatever the case, I’m not about to let Ezmerelda continue to think I’m a lightweight. Speaking of Ezmerelda, we met up with her on the crossroads to Ravenloft. She had been to Vallaki to get some holy water from Father Lucian. He was only able to fill six flasks in the short time we gave him, but it’s not like we were planning to fight Strahd today. Ezmerelda left the remainder of the flasks with him to be picked up tomorrow. I had asked Ezmerelda to check up on Ireena while she was in Vallaki. She’s doing fine, which is good - she’s been playing a lot of cards, apparently. Soon after departing from Ezmerelda, Nia started insisting that we should head back to the Amber Temple. She found a spellbook while she was there, but didn’t identify its purpose until we had already returned. She wanted to go back and learn a few spells in time for the fight against Strahd. Her logic was that we wouldn’t have a lot of wiggle room in terms of timing once Strahd discovered that we killed Rahadin. So that’s how we ended up turning back halfway to Ravenloft. Skoll and Nia headed toward the Amber Temple while Godfrey and I headed back to the tower. Ezmerelda was angry - she wants to get things in motion. Godfrey also seemed pretty anxious about the last-minute change of plans, but he was much more polite about it. It was noon when I got back to the tower. I haven’t really been up to much since then, which hasn’t been too great - each second I spend not doing something is a second I spend thinking about fighting Strahd, or what comes after. I think I’m going to rope Ezmerelda into a drinking contest - and the others too, I suppose. I have something to prove. --- ## 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]]):** 01/11/1491