[[1491-01-15 II|<< 15 Hammer 1491 (Part II)]] | [[1491-01-17|17 Hammer 1491 >>]] ## 16 Hammer 1491 I awoke this morning to the sound of birds and the smell of toast. The toast wasn’t so unusual - it was the birds that caught me off guard. When we came out to Ismark’s kitchen to find only toast waiting for us, Skoll took it upon himself to teach the kids how to make scrambled eggs. There were plenty of eggshell pieces in them by the time they were finished, but I took some anyway. Over breakfast, we discussed what to do about the very real possibility that Barovia could return to its prior state. I suggested going to the Amber Temple and destroying all the sarcophagi. It made sense to me - the sarcophagi are where the vestiges live, and those vestiges have ties to the dark powers. No one else was on board, though. "Exethanter will kill us," they said. "It doesn’t work like that," they said. I’m not sure how they would know, but whatever. From there, we decided pretty quickly that we would just have to try to get as many people out of Barovia as possible. Ismark said that he could try to coordinate an evacuation with our friends in Vallaki, and hopefully also the Vistani. He's hoping that a city is nearby and that we’re not in the middle of a sea or something. I think I could probably build a boat, but the only ones who really had faith in the idea were Skoll and Ireena. Ezmerelda was there early, so it was early when left for Ravenloft. On the way, we saw wolves out, roaming. They didn't even try to attack us! The sky was a comfortable blue-gray, and the brick of the castle was still a faded white. The first thing we did was find the depressing accountant. He was still chained to his desk - he said that he thought we had forgotten about him, which we definitely did. But we remembered before he died of starvation or anything, and I'd say that’s what counts. Nia set him free from his shackles. He couldn't help us find any of the treasure in Ravenloft, so we had to comb through the castle ourselves. It took hours, but we found some magical items and more gold than we know what to do with. We also met Strahd’s boyfriend, a vampire spawn named Escher. He managed to be more depressing than the accountant - granted, he had been waiting for his boyfriend to dump him, only for his boyfriend to be killed instead. He didn’t seem to begrudge us for it, though. He even gave us some jewelry before taking his leave. Nia insisted that we go down to the crypts. I wasn’t about to loot anything out of respect for Skoll's wishes, but we all still followed her and waited while she searched dozens of individual crypts. There were a few of note - Nia found Khazan’s crypt, for starters. In true Nia fashion, she talked to the skeleton. Khazan told us his story: he tried and failed to kill Strahd once in an attempt to secure power from him. Instead of being killed in retaliation, Khazan was offered a job. He took it. Kind of disappointing to hear, honestly - I had been hoping that Khazan was cool. We also visited the resting site of a self-proclaimed time-traveler. Nia spoke to him, and he taught us how to use a gun. It was very loud and unpleasant. Many of the crypts were trapped; one of the traps came in the form of an actual horse that attacked us, and Nia got so hurt that I was half convinced she was going to end up dead. It would've been a pretty stupid way to die after going through all the trouble of killing Strahd. But Nia was fine enough to insist that we take literally a thousand books from the castle. Ezmerelda was tired of treasure at this point, and I kind of was to. I followed her when she went outside to wait by her wagon. It took a solid hour, but Ireena, Nia, and Skoll eventually emerged from the castle for the last time. We had a chariot full of treasure with no way to transport it. I was struck by an idea - one that I should have admittedly taken advantage of many times before. I whistled, loud; a minute later, eight goats emerged out of the mountain wilderness. Apparently unimpressed by my goats, Skoll summoned eight draft horses. It was pretty rude of him, honestly. Ireena and Ezmerelda both agreed that my goats would have done the job just fine. We tethered the goats and the horses to the chariot and set off. An hour in, the goats started getting anxious. I let them go; the horses also had to be resummoned. Shortly after that, we arrived at the tower. Everyone was present: me, Rictavio, Mordenkainen, Urwin, Sorina, Yesper, Christopher, Pidlwick, Ireena, Ezmerelda, Nia, Skoll, and our host of animal companions. Nia showed off her gun. Everyone was impressed, except for Mordenkainen, who showed off his own, cooler gun. Skoll gave Christopher some items that he collected from Khazan’s crypt. Even though Khazan sucked, it was sweet of him; Christopher was appreciative. After we settled in a bit, I spoke to Urwin about an exodus. It turned out that he had already been thinking about it. Urwin figured he'll leave Karl in charge of Vallaki while he works on getting people out. He was glad to accept Ismark’s offer of cooperation; he also said that he would reach out to his father at the winery to try to organize something with Krezk. He even spoke of reaching out to the druids and werewolves. I was torn between being impressed and being perplexed by Urwin's capacity for care; the werewolves killed his wife, after all. When I asked about it, he said that nearly everyone deserves their chance to leave Barovia, minus Strahd himself. After the evacuation, he and the Wachter brothers will look over those who have stayed. I worry for the three of them - if Barovia reverts to its old state, I don't want them to be trapped. Not after everything we worked for. Regardless, us non-Barovians won't be sticking around for the reorganization efforts, which will likely take months. Skoll asked me if I wanted to come with him to Valentia to help fulfill Godfrey's request. Nia, Rictavio, and Ireena are going too, once they figure out where Valentia is. I didn’t agree right away, though not because I had plans of my own - I just had someone else to check in with first. Ezmerelda was on the top floor of the tower when I found her, gathering up her belongings. She wasn't wearing her headband or her coat. I don't think I've ever been more excited to see someone's arms. I announced my presence. For the first time since I met her, I saw Ezmerelda jump. I had caught her in thought, apparently. She had been thinking about what comes next. I was nervous beyond comprehension, but I got right to it: I asked her if she wanted to come with the rest of us to Valentia. Ezmerelda was hesitant at first. It was enough to make my heart sink, and it settled as a lump in my stomach. She might be out of place, she said. She told me that she didn’t know Godfrey like we did, which is funny, because I was about as close with the guy as she was. My next words had to be forced out of my throat, but I managed: it’s not for Godfrey’s sake. I told her that I would like her to come with me. Ezmerelda agreed to come, though not without giving herself an out. She said not to be surprised if she eventually leaves. I didn’t expect her to agree without that kind of stipulation - honestly, I didn’t expect her to agree at all. I felt very light. Ezmerelda had something to announce before I left her alone. She said that she’s glad that we’re all alive, but she paused after the “you,” and the end of her sentence hung in the air. It was nice to hear. I told her that I’m glad she’s alive too - in response, she only cleared her throat. I could tell that it took a lot for her to say it in the first place, so I stayed quiet instead of laughing like I wanted to. It’s hard to believe that it was so simple in the end. All I had to do was tell Skoll that I didn’t know what I was going to do next. All I had to do was ask Ezmerelda to come with me. I will miss those staying behind to build whatever it is they build outside of Barovia. But it will be a couple days before I have to say goodbye, at least. I thought that I felt good yesterday, but this - knowing that I have people, that I have a place - feels better than anything. I’ll have to figure out what to do after Valentia, of course. I'm hoping that things will shift and fall into place, and that I'll hardly have to do any thinking at all. If not, I'll have plenty of time to figure it out. --- ## 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]]):** 01/16/1491