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====== Curse of Strahd - Session 16 - 03/20/2021 ======

Haldar began the session by surrendering!

The Abby is made up of a couple of large buildings and a set of very small, stone buildings along the back wall of the courtyard. Along the wall are scare guardsmen, stuffed armor and weapons purched or leaning as if there were actual guards standing there. Next to the gate that we came through was a small guard house from which Otto popped out of, as he rushed up to inspect us. Zygfrek was the other guard who came out as well. They are both quite odd as the seem to be a mixture of parts from many different kinds of creatures. 

Otto is a beardless Drawf with patches of donkey flesh with one human ear and one wolfs ear. He also has a protruding wolfs snout and fangs, with arms and hands that are human and his legs and feet are leonine. He also has a donkey’s tail. He doesn’t speak very well. His voice and laughter have donkey overtones.

Zygfrek is about 4’ 7’’ with the left side of her face and body covered in lizard scales, the right with tufts of grey wolf fur, between the tufts is pale human skin. Her eyes are feline and her fingers resemble cat paws with opposable thumbs. She has a gruff voice and wears a grey cloak with black fur trim. 

We spoke to them about seeing the Abbot and after a little discussion, they took us to him. They took us to the main room which was a large square room where there was gentle sounding music trickling down from above. There is a table and chairs, stained glass window, and a fireplace with a with a mantle and on the mantle is a golden disk with the symbol of the sun. There are staircases, one going up and one going down, in the opposite corners. Seated at the table is a vailed young lady with Alabaster skin, dressed in a torn and soiled red gown. She appears lost in thought. A young priest stands near her and offers his hand to her. The Abbott moves with the grace of a saint sand greets us. 

Rinn is to the side and trying to glean a better look at the woman. She is in, what kind of looks like, a wedding gown that is very formal looking but also a little moth eaten. She is carrying a bouquet. In the glow of the firelight, she looks to have a nice figure and pretty skin but as he looks a little longer, he can see what appears to be stitch marks, here and there, on her. He starts to think she is some sort of construct.

Kyana steps up and introduces herself and ask for his assistance in helping one of our party. The Abbott welcomed us to the Abby of Saint Markovia and asked how he might help us. Kyana explains that there is one in the party that may be cursed or worse. The Abbott immediately turned to Adrian. Then he turned back to Kyana and asked, which one, to which she answered Adrian. He invited Adrian to come closer. As he came closer, the Abbott looks very friendly and peaceful. He has very piercing eyes that almost glow. He exudes an aura of power. He keeps inviting him to move closer. After looking at Kyana, he stated that, You’ve died recently!”. She told him yes. He looks at Adrian and says that he has died recently as well. He said that they weren’t cursed, but that they have received something known as a dark gift. He seemed to know that she had died and returned of her own accord. We affirmed it. He said that what they had received, was of the land, and that he could not remove it.

Looking at Adrian, he told him that his was a little more obvious. Asked if anything could be done, the Abbott said that there is nothing he can do to remove it. From outside, there was a sudden and loud screeching sound. It sounded like humans, howling, bunches of them, probably 20 or 30 of them. Otto exclaims that he will take care of that and exited the building, closing the door. Snoggly inquired what that was. The Abbott that at the Abby we house others, like Otto and Zygfrek. When asked what they are, he told us that we are in an ancient land with ancient power, many of them dark. 

He tells us that he has been here over a hundred years. He came here to aid these people like you, looking at Kyana, might do from where you are from, naming her hometown. In the first three or four years, everything went well. He was there to help and heal when needed. Over time, things changed, and his healing didn’t work as it should have. The people would come to him with something like blindness. He would cure them, but it wouldn’t just cure then, their eyesight would become superior like that of a cat, which manifested itself in the form of cats eyes. Someone with a broken leg would not just heal the leg but the leg would change to that of a horse’s leg. It was not his intent, but they were healed, and in a way, better than before.

Snoggly made a suggestion that hopefully, he didn’t sure too many people that were impotent, cracking a joke about how there is no telling what might be running around in the town. The Abbott continued suggesting that in many respects they are superior to what they were before. When someone comes to hemi for healing, it is with a heavy heart that he grants it, not knowing what will come of it. When questioned about the two outside, he suggested that over the years, the offspring of these people is producing people that are superior to what they came from through these enhanced abilities that they now have. Ah, Vasilka, she is the lands redemption. 

He told us a little about Strahd’s history. Snoggly stopped him and asked if he can’t do something to heal Adrian’s condition. The Abbott reminds us that Adrian doesn’t suffer from a stomach condition. Dain suggested that even if he healed him and he ended up with a horse’s stomach, that would likely be better than this. Kyana reminds Dain that this is not a condition of his stomach to be healed. Dain suggest that, aye, it might not be his stomach, but maybe something in the stomach. He offered another question, where, exactly, within his body, is this smell coming from. Maybe we can get that out. That began a debate about possibly removing his stomach and replacing it with another one. To which Kyana said, “No!”. The Abbott finally left it up to Adrian, but said that if he wanted to, the Abbott could perform surgery and remove the stomach and replace it with another. It might do the trick. 

That brings me back to my bride, Vasilka. He explains that she is his pride and possibly the redemption of all of Barovia.  He then begins explaining how Strahd has been here for a long time and considers himself ancient and part of the land. The Abbott tells us that Strahd is incredibly powerful. He continues that Strahd is also angry, as his love was stolen from him. If he can give Strahd someone to love, thinking that if Strahd had someone to love, perhaps the land would be cured. He is trying to recreate the one person that he loved. Her name was Tatyana. Vasilka will be the new Tatyana. Alas, she is not complete. He lefted the veil to reveal that Vasilka, had the muscle and tissue that sits under the skin of the face but no face.

Snoggly announces his revulsion at what the Abbott is doing. When asked where he gets the parts, the Abbott explains that when people die, they no longer need their parts, he can put them to use. Snoggly asks if that means he robs graves. He says that they were donated. He looks to Kyana and suggests that she could offer her face and be the savior of all of Barovia. He launches into trying to convence her that she can still live her life without the skin of her face and that she can save everyone. No matter how hard he pushes though, she’s not going to do that.

Snoggly and Kyana admonish him for his plans, suggesting that Strahd wouldn’t love an assembled creature, to which the Abbott says that he thinks he will. He tells us Strahd is coming to see his bride. Within the week, Strahd will come here to see her. She needs a face. Snoggly says, that he will not be getting Kyana’s face and Kyana states that as well. He finally resigns himself that she will not be the face. He tells us that we are welcome to visit the grounds. We can stay here for as long as we wish. He expects a certain courtesy from everyone.

Snoggly suggested that he had no intention of staying here. When pressed about how many people he has sown together he says that we still don’t understand, that Vasilka is a golem. When asked how many golem’s he has made so far, he told Kyana, two. Vasilika and someone in the East wing, a male. Snoggly wants to tell the Burgermaster what is going on up here. The Abbott says that he resurrected the Burgermaster’s son. It’s doubtful he will get anywhere wit the Burgermaster. It is suggested that the son doesn’t seem to be afflicted. Dain finally asks the Abbott if the son of the Burgermaster had a condition like Kyana and Adrian do. He answered that surely, there is something there. Perhaps it hasn’t manifested itself yet, but he finds it hard to believe that someone dead that long would comeback without there being a cost, something severe.

Snoggly asks if the Abbotts god would condone what he is doing to which the Abbott points out the holy symbols all around us of the morning lord. The same deity that Kyana follows, to which Kyana says no, she doesn’t believe him. She tells him that the morning lord is a god of light, and not a god of the darkness. The Abbott replies, “Exactly!”. He states that Vasilka is a light in the darkness. Snoggly laughs and suggests that by the end of the week, it’s more than likely that he will be dead himself. We start leaving the building and going out into the courtyard.  

Kyana suggests that maybe we should see what is going on in the East wing. Snoggly returned to discussing the golem bride and even picked on poor Otto, trying to get him to say if he thought the golem was pretty or not, to which Otto would only respond that he couldn’t say, she is not for him. Rinn asked what all the howling was about earlier. Otto told us that they thought it was feeding time, indicating the other building. Snoggly asked what they like to eat? He replied, whatever if fixed for them. Snoggly asked if he made meals for them out of people to which Otto replied, “no!”. 

Rinn moved to the door of the building and opened it. As he enters, he says, “What’s in here?”. Inside the door is an office with a desk and chair that have been smashed. There is a hallway to the south leading to a staircase going up. There is also a dark passage to the east where you can hear unnatural whispers, mad laughter and there is a foul order. He moves to the hallway going to the east. The others move up and in. Behind the doors lining the hallway, he can hear cackles and some talking going on. Also, at the far end, he sees a figure, rather large, that quickly advances on him. 

This creature is a very large 7 foot construct. Rinn, attempting to defuse the situation, tips his hat to the creature and says hello. The creature looks at him and stands up straighter and growls at him. He moves up in a very intimidating fashion. Rinn again says, “Good day, nice to meet you!”. The creature points to the door Rinn came in and growls a little more. Rinn says, “Yes, it was open, so I came on in!”. The creature backhands Rinn but to Rinn it seems as if to get him to be quiet. It was only minor damage. Then he shoves Rinn towards the door. Rinn attempts to tuck and roll past him.

Kyana moves up closer to the door. Kevin broke into an old Star Trek the Next Generation flash back by saying, “Shaka, when the walls fell”, and later with “The river Temarc, in winter.”.  These are famous Dathon quotes. David said, “That episode gave me a headache!”.
The next few moments resulted in Rinn taking a powerful hit. No one actually attacked the creature as it seemed he was just trying to get us to leave. We found out the creatures name is Pete. He is guarding the place and only those escorted by the Abbott or Cloven are allowed in. Cloven is the caretaker and Otto’s brother. After asking Rinn to leave twice, once quite forcefully, complete with bruising, Rinn moves towards the exit and as the creature growls at him, he returns the favor with a most menacing growl. It’s just intimidating enough to make the creature step back a little. After that, Rinn tips his hat to the creature and says, “Good day to you sir!”, and exits the building. He tells the others that the bruising is his own fault and not to blame the creature. Kyana attempts a hold spell on the creature but it fails. 
 
Finally, everyone moves out of the building. Misty sees the door at the far end of the hallway and the light around it indicates that it is an outside door. Zanfyr move back towards the well and faces the building. The creature moves forward and closes the door. While Misty moves to the back door, Rinn messages her and finds out what she is doing and moves up to open the door again. He is attempting to keep the creature’s attention focused up here. Meanwhile, Zanfyr is grabbed from behind and pulled back into the well. As he is pulled back, we hear odd Gollum like speech saying “Food!”. It’s coming from a spider like creature and is pulling him down in it. 

A fight ensues in an attempt to free Zanfyr from the grip of this creature. Quickly, the creature is dispatched and a rope is lowered to help Zanfyr climb back up and out of there. The Abbott come to the well and asks if Zanfyr is okay. As Zanfyr is climbing out, the Abbott levitates him the rest of the way out.  We learned that the spider creature was named Mishka when Otto explained to the Abbott that was who attacked the group. Mishka is dead now. The Abbott sees Rinns marks and asks what happened to him but quickly realizes that Pete was responsible for those.

He offers a potion to Rinn for healing purposes but knowing how the Abbott is, he didn’t take it and decided to let Kyana check it later. He seems a little upset at the death of Mishka. Dain points out that if his life was spent in chains, maybe it wasn’t much of a life anyway. The Abbott replied, “All life is precious.”. 

The Abbott explains that Pete corals the mongrel folk who are less mentally stable. It’s his job to keep the doors shut and to keep people out. If we wished to look around upstairs, we could go around the wall on the rampart to reach the second floor. Ezmerelda might be there. When asked who Ezmerelda is, the Abbott describes her as a former Vistani, someone we might find as an ally to us. 

At the back door, Misty is listening at it. She hears loud laughter, howling, cries of pain. She looks at the second level and decided to climb up there and look around. In floats a model, of the second floor, of the east wing. She moves to a door on that floor and listens. She can only hear the noise from downstairs. She climbs back down and heads back to the main group. When she gets back, the group catches her up on the goings on over there. Rinn and Dain were AFK. Snoggly tells her about Ezmerelda. Misty would like to meet her. AFK ended.

Rinn gave the potion that the Abbott gave him to Kyana to check it out. She determines that it is a potion of superior healing. He, Misty, Kyana, and a reluctant Adrian proceed to move up onto the ramparts and making their way to the second floor. We checked the first door and it was full of old useless furniture. They moved on to the second door. 

Rinn knocked politely. We here a voice say, “Come!”. We open the door and enter to find shelves. A makeshift desk has been set up in the room there are books in piles and stacks lying about. We are greeted by woman holding a rapier and a handaxe. She is brightly dressed. Rinn holds up his hands and tells her that it’s okay, we are not here to harm her. The Abbott told us about her and we were interested in meeting her. She finally stands up and gives us a little bow and then we notice that one of her legs is wooden. 

Rinn proceeds to introduce the others. She seems to know about Tabaxi’s so interested to see Misty, she is not surprised like so many others. He introduces Kyana and Adrian as well. She catches a whiff of the sulfur breath. Rinn explains that we’d hoped she might have a way to help rid poor Adrian and Kyana of the afflictions. He explains that the Abbott told us about and we thought, because of her heritage, that she might know of a way to help them. She told us that she is no longer Vistani. She also tells us that she is no healer. She asks us about our experience with the Abbott then explains that he is at least 100 years old and looks like he is in his mid-twenties. He is clearly not human, but he is generally good. 

She then looks to us to ask, why we are here. Misty chimes in as being interested in her and tells her about the cards she has. As Ezmerelda mentions tells Misty that she is no longer Vistani and is an outcast, Misty tells her she doesn’t care. That she thinks Ezmerelda is cool. Ezmerelda asks why we are here, in Barovia Rinn explains that we don’t really know, then Kyana explain how she got here and that Snoggly and Dain were with her caravan and ended up here at the same time. She stepped up to Kyana to study her. She said, you died and came back without aid to which we replied yes. She said you were given a dark gift by members of the Amber Temple. 

She tells us that she is seeking someone named Rudolph van Richten and as if we seen him. We have not. She asks if we know who he is. She tells us that Rudolph van Richten is a monster hunter and is here to kill Strahd. Then she tells us that Strahd is coming here. She is trying to find Rudolph to let him know that Strahd is coming, in hopes that he can finally defeat him. He likely can’t. She explains that we are in the Abby of Saint Markovia and that Saint Markovia lead a revolt, a virtual army, to kill the Strahd and failed. They were all killed by the vampire himself. She said she was a little freaked out but that she felt she was there for a reason and she doesn’t want Rudolph to be in this alone. She believes he is here somewhere but doesn’t know where. She still has friends among the Vistani and they told her that he travelled the mists with them and came here.

The Abbott has invited Strahd here again, yes, he’s been here before. He has invited him to meet his bride. Kyana told her that he had tried to get her to give up her face to the bride to which Ezmerelda replied that he had done the same with her. She said that she has no doubt that he will find a face and he will complete her to some level and present her to Strahd. She agreed with us that she can’t imagine that Strahd would accept her. She said that the only good thing is that it will bring Strahd here and she will find a way to kill him.

When asked that we need to find her friend, correct. She said yes, he is her friend and was her mentor. They had a falling out, but he taught her everything she knows. He is the finest monster hunter there is. He is well studied. If anyone is to have a chance to kill Strahd, it would be him. Kyana suggest that there is another here that may become like him, a monster hunter. Ezmerelda asks Kyana is she knows what her dark gift is? Kyana replies, “No, I do not!”. She said the land will bring you back to life but you have to agree to it, there is a price. She asks what Adrian remembers, but he remembers no such negotiation. 

This is how it worked for Starhd von Zarovich. He was offered immortality as a vampire, and this realm to control, in his negotiation, which he obviously accepted. Rinn quizzes her about the Guilthais Tree on Yester Hill and about the platform where we stood and looked into the mists and what we saw there. She said you were seeing visions of Barovia as it once was. She said that Strahd often goes there and sits on his Nightmare and gazes into it, to see the kingdom he once established, and remember his life with Tatyana. Rinn told her that he understood that there is someone even above Strahd. She confirmed that there is a force beyond her ability to comprehend.

Getting back to helping Adrian, Rinn asked if there is anything we can do for him. She said that the obvious answer is to kill Strahd. Rinn replied that we aren’t strong enough. We might be able to assist a great monster hunter though. When asked if the Vistani are able to find him, we were told that Van Richten despised the Vistani and got away from them as-soon-as he got here. He may use then to gather information. Rinn asked if she knew if they could scry on him and find him. Ezmerelda suggested that maybe Madam Eva could but she would need to have some acquaintance with him to do so. 

What about an item of his, would she have something of his to use to scry from. She said he lived here, for a time. She also told us that he may have been at the tower by the lake near here. We mentioned that we had heard of the area when two children ran away from Vallaki and were last seen in that area. She reminded us that the area we are talking about is full of wolves and werewolves. It’s doubtful that the children survived. She said that if he was at the tower, =he likely isn’t anymore and Kyana suggested that we could search there to see if he left any clues.

She asked if we would help her kill Strahd. We told her we would have to see if the rest of the group would want to. She hadn’t realized there was a group ands asked about them We told her we number 7 or with Adrian, 8. The others include a Wizard, Paladin, Druid, and a Ranger with an affinity for re-killing the undead. Rinn messaged Snoggly getting the rest to come up. We caught them up and all agreed that we would like to help. Snoggly asked about