<< March 12, 2021 | Notes | February 19, 2021 >>
youngest: first thing said was a quick "i don't want to go home again!" nodded "no" to whether she was from valleki
lucy: home not good, mom and dad slowly sold everything off until she was the only thing left to sell, eventually said okay to maybe going home
gale gave them coats and clothes from the hag loot, plus a necklace each.
add to wiki: blinsky said top had fun game he could teach us
father p took the two girls in, said he would gladly take others
"the morning lord seeks to bring about a new world through saving the children specifically"
shopkeep (adrik) in general store likes bell, says the rest of us give him the heebie jeebies or take him for a fool. may or may not like gale.
different maid again at the mayor's.
re: platemail = threats? no such harm in this house! = bone shake
man of his word - bone shake
hag head statue for the next festival! will pay for more heads!
30g per head, keeps gold in his room
izek lives with mayor
maybe next time we can meet izek
everyone got 49g, 4s, 3c
STORED AT THE INN:
marked bottle of weird wine
stolen st andral's hymnal - lock of hag's hair inside
weird ass nausea ink
mirror compact i stole from the vistani
book - the oath celestial
unopened mystery decanter
fine clothes
1 Ghoul Skin Cloak
Strahd's Letter
Deed and Will to Durst House/Windmill
1 set of Silverware -- now rusted
1 Mummy Hand with Rope
1 Polished Nothic's Eye
1 Wand of Polymorph (non-magical - used up?)
1 Bag of Bat
1 Severed Finger \\
1 6" Wooden Mummy Figurine
1 iron Devil's Face Pendant -- bad reaction from shopkeeper in Barovia
1 Halfling's Shrunken Head in a leather bag
1 Small Wooden Coffer containing a Tongue
Belt pouch - 57g
2g for statue - 6 total (5 percy) - can make out some features - humanoid in shape
came across a path into the woods on the road to tsolenka pass
the vistani sang of sangzor, the supernaturally resilient goat, known among mountain folk for his evil disposistion. we killed him. we cut his head off and wrapped it in bags and packed snow around it to hide it.
tsolenka pass - high wall of black stone lined with spikes and topped by statues of demonic vultures (vrock), flanking a demonic portculis filledwith green flame. next to it is a guard tower of white stone topped by golden statues of knights.
the gate lifts on its own as we approach.
tower: each statue is a female human knight holding a lance. human skeletons clad in rusty mail are scattered on the roof under the snow. snow maidens warned bell as he climbed: "begone, the treasure is ours!"
snow dissipates into a book: bound leather book with metal bands across the front that wrap around the spine with a lock. metal design on the front as well. steel. page are parchment and very brittle. written in curious shorthand. mostly illegible but several paragraphs are intact and readable. it's strahd's nice guy diary lmao
I am the Ancient. I am the Land. My beginnings are lost in the darkness of the past. I was the warrior, I was good and just. I thundered across the land like the wrath of a just god, but the war years and the killing years wore down my soul as the wind wears stone into sand.
All goodness slipped from my life. I found my youth and strength gone, and all I had left was death. My army settled in the valley of Barovia and took power over the people in the name of a just god, but with none of a god’s grace or justice.
I called for my family, long unseated from their ancient thrones, and brought them here to settle in the castle Ravenloft. They came with a younger brother of mine, Sergei. He was handsome and youthful. I hated him for both.
From the families of the valley, one spirit shone above all others. A rare beauty, who was called “perfection,” “joy,” and “treasure.” Her name was Tatyana, and I longed for her to be mine.
I loved her with all my heart. I loved her for her youth. I loved her for her joy. But she spurned me! “Old One” was my name to her—“elder” and “brother” also. Her heart went to Sergei. They were betrothed. The date was set.
With words she called me “brother,” but when I looked into her eyes they reflected another name: “death.” It was the death of the aged that she saw in me. She loved her youth and enjoyed it. But I had squandered mine.
The death she saw in me turned her from me. And so I came to hate death—my death. My hate is very strong. I would not be called “death” so soon. I made a pact with death, a pact of blood. On the day of the wedding, I killed Sergei, my brother. My pact was sealed with his blood.
I found Tatyana weeping in the garden east of the chapel. She fled from me. She would not let me explain, and a great anger swelled within me. She had to understand the pact I made for her. I pursued her. Finally, in despair, she flung herself from the walls of Ravenloft, and I watched everything I ever wanted fall from my grasp forever.
It was a thousand feet through the mists. No trace of her was ever found. Not even I know her final fate.
Arrows from the castle guards pierced me to my soul, but I did not die. Nor did I live. I became undead, forever.
I have studied much since then. “Vampyr” is my new name. I still lust for life and youth, and I curse the living that took them from me. Even the sun is against me. It is the sun and its light I fear the most, but little else can harm me now. Even a stake through my heart does not kill me, though it holds me from movement. But the sword, that cursed sword that Sergei brought! I must dispose of that awful tool! I fear and hate it as much as the sun.
I have often hunted for Tatyana. I have even felt her within my grasp, but she escapes. She taunts me! She taunts me! What will it take to bend her love to me? I now reside far below Ravenloft. I live among the dead and sleep beneath the very stones of this hollow castle of despair. I shall seal shut the walls of the stairs that none may disturb me.
