We started in Kresk, discussing our options.  According to the script, next was to go to the cave near the Old Mill (Granny Momo’s cookie factory) and face our greatest fear.  That being, a trial run for our final confrontation with Strahdanya and her minions.  (This would finish Loki’s personal quest, the last quest to be completed.)  Followed by the actual assault.  And once she was defeated, her vampire god’s powers would be diminished sufficiently to be defeatable back at the Amber Temple.  And we’d have a week to do so or she’d rise again.  But first, what did we need to do?  There were plenty of things people wanted before fighting her, most prominently, acquire more spells.  But there are no spell stores in Barovia.  The best Lady Patrina could hope for was more inks in Valaki with which she could transcribe from Mord’s spell book.  And maybe trade with Esmerelda although she (and Brian) seemed at best lukewarm towards.  We all wanted to get to 12^th level but that will likely happen after this major milestone.  Getting a strong bow for Ezra was also on the list of desires although it’ll likely take a week or two to make, once ordered.  So, it may all be over by then. 

So, we decided to go to Valki for inks and a bow since it was on the way to the Mill anyway.  But first, there were a bunch of but firsts to do in Kresk.  Irena decided to stay behind to give Brian one less thing to keep track of.  We took another long rest to recover the last level of exhaustion for Lady P and Ambrus.  And we finally got on the road.  At the end of the first day, we came across a grisly scene.  It seemed as though a group of traveling peasants had been waylaid and killed.  The only survivor was a child who was clinging to her father’s body.  Lady P won initiative and approach her in a calm manner.  And it turned out, she was an evil fey creature feasting on the innards of the peasant.  Shock and dismay.  A dozen more leapt out of the bodies and the fight ensued.  They did a lot of damage including some free trips but at least they didn’t have any magic or legendary actions.  AOE were used.  Their AC was low but their HPs were high.  There was a big discussion on Kaladin’s attempt to use falling as “free movement” like was the case in the fight with the Roc but Brian objected.  It was a thing. 

Lady P, being in the front, got rocked pretty good.  So, she turned into a T Rex.  About round two, a huge Bone Bird fell from the sky, doing 20d6 to it and those it landed on.  In retaliation for the discussion above.  That did a bunch of damage to Kaladin and enough to knock the T Rex out of Patrina.  It got a free grab and restrained but didn’t seem to be able to fly.  How it got up there, we were confused.  That spiced up the fight.  Mighty smites and spells were used.  Fantasy Grounds went sideways a couple of times and we had to reboot once.  Lady P cast T Rex on Kharn who started granting T vantage.  The polymorph kept unsetting in Fantasy Grounds and even the Bone Brid turning into a Roc.  All in all, it was contentious, disjointed due to tech issues and resolved in a handful of rounds.  We took a short rest and continued.

In Valiki, Ezra ordered his bow from the elves.  Lady P and Esmerelda went into the city since they were the only ones not currently wanted.  After they went through the usual gate keeper nonsense, they checked the board, and we were still wanted.  They went to the magic shop.  She asked about magical items but he said that the riots caused by the wanted adventurers (us) had about cleaned him out.  He had no scrolls or spells for sell either.  But he did have ink.  She spent all her money on those and then started negotiating with the NPC about spell swapping.  She had very little success there.  Maybe she picked up a True Sight.  Meanwhile all the other idle players started drifting off.  We never really regained our momentum.  We went to the cave and entered.  And exited at the front gate of Castle Stradanya.  At that point it was probably too late to start on that, so we just stopped.  Of note, we’re going in short a short rest which is probably a bad idea.  And with all the talk of finding clues and things to defeat her, it seems like our plan is to beat her up.  And her minions, in her lair.  Although we were told that Ambrus’s new Sun Sword was sentient so maybe it has some ideas.  Any thoughts of finding another way in or weakening her forces were rejected.  Stay on the rails and those rails go right into the lion’s den.  Toot toot.

We got off to a slow start.  With two players missing, we had to wait for the late arrivers in order to reach critical mass.  Just as we moved across the bridge over the 500-foot canyon again, we were attacked by two Rocs.  Loki went first, firing 3-4 shots into one and then taking cover next to one of the towers.  (He was down to less than half as he had run out of HD.)  Kaladin went next.  (Still fatigued from the fight with the ghosts.)  He flew up to one and with a Flurry of Blows managed to hit and stun one.  It plummeted down and took 20d6 of falling damage.  He hit the second one but did not stun it.  Once again, the meleers were sort of left out.  Even Kharn’s strong bow was late in arriving.  The second Roc attacked Kaladin, hitting, and grappling him.  It started flying down towards its mate and was quickly out of range of our ranged characters.  Esmerelda used a Dimension Door to place herself on its back.  When Kaladin went again, he managed to stun it. (Dan: The mechanics of this was wierd.  I stunned the Roc and it instantly fell 500ft.  Since this happened instantly it interupted my action and I wasn't able to finish my action or try to escape... since an incapacitated foe can't grapple) And the 3 of them took 20d6 of falling damage.  However, the Monk took 5*level less damage.  And now both Rocs were 500 feet below the bridge.

Loki cast Summon Animals and brought forth two Giant Eagles.  He bid one to carry him down and one to catch him if the first should fall.  Although Shimota pointed out that in order to keep up, the second wouldn’t have an action to do so.  Kaladin got free of the Roc but was quickly knocked out.  Esmeralda was grabbed and it flew towards the bridge at river level.  That was finally in Loki’s range so he got a couple shots and then 4 more when his turn came up.  Kharn decided it was time for action.  He tossed his strong bow (and arrows) to Ezra and then jumped off the bridge (raging first), and landing on the Roc.  They all landed in a heap in the river, taking out the NPC.  He managed to fish her out and get her one of few remaining good berries.  Meanwhile, the other Roc attacked the Eagle carrying Loki.  It hit and grabbed and killed it.  However, since it was conjured, it simply disappeared, leaving Loki in midair.  The second Eagle managed to grab him, barely.

Kharn saved Kaladin from drowning and got him to 1 hit point as well.  He then flew at it and was critted with a beak and out again.  Esmeralda was also knocked out.  (I may be getting the order of these events wrong.)  Loki cast Rope Trick and climbed into the pocket so that the Eagle could go grab the NPC.  (He was still 100 feet up.)  But the AOO stopped that plan.  Next Baron Q decided to jump into the river to try to save her.  The problem was that she was like 30 from the bridge so the Baron needed to traverse that distance as he fell.  To do so afterwards would not leave him with an action to save her.  He wanted to use his Billowing Cloak to parasail the distance but Brian set the DC at 25.  Since the Baron was not proficient in Athletics or Acrobatics, he could not get to that number.  Some time was spent arguing and discussing options and eventually Brian agreed to move it to DC 20 because we wanted to see it tried.  He failed the roll however Ezra spent an inspiration in encouragement.  On that roll, he got a nat 20.  A beautiful swan dive (and 20d6 of damage) later, he managed to save her.

With only one Roc left, it started to fly away with the last Giant Eagle in its talons.  However, a couple of Fireballs killed it but not the Roc.  At a 120 fly speed it was getting away fast.  Esmerelda cast another Dimension Door with Kharn in tow and he took it out.  Once again, it got dicey saving the NPC from the fall but we managed.  We limped into a long rest in the same tower we stopped at on the way up.  There were some discussions about who needed full rests to recover from exhaustion and how we can get rests and have watches.  On Loki’s watch, an undead spirit manifested in the tower.  He blasted it 4 times and took it out.  People were mad for being awoken over an alleged ghost.  Once rested, we were ready to head out. 

But Kharn could not let go of the notion of a Roc nest full of treasure.  We spent 20 minutes arguing about it and eventually decided to send the fliers in search so that we could move on.  DG figured we’d miss the tracking roll anyway however with assistance from Kharn, he rolled a nat 20.  It turns out, the nest was over the Amber Temple.  We went back up the hill to check it out.  It had nothing but 2 starving Roc chicks.  Time well spent.  By the time we got back to the wagons, the day was about over.  So, we took another long rest.  And then we fast forwarded to Kresk.  Irena put herself and the sword hilt in the healing waters, fortified by the green gem Loki put in the well, and not only did the sword repair but she got her 10 years of aging back.  It is a finesse long or short sword that does +2/+2 plus an extra 1d8 of radiant damage.  And some other things once attuned.  Hopefully it’s good at slaying vampires.  We gave it to Ambrus.  Next is back to the Old Mill cave to face our greatest fear.  And maybe a side trip to Valaki along the way to get Ezra his very own strong bow.

We started at the top of the order with Loki.  He was in a tight spot.  In an archimage’s lair, surrounded by magical darkness that the Mage could see in but Loki could not.  DG’s first thought was to ignite the “sun” sword in hopes that it might penetrate the darkness.  Brian told him he could “feel” that it was somehow broken.  He then put forth several reasons why he might have a fighting chance of finding the window out again but it boiled down to a contested skill roll.  Loki’s survival versus his perception.  He rolled an 18 and DG rolled a nat 20.  Loki went into all 4s mode and scampered past him and out the window, down the statue with his climb speed.  The Mage went next.  He cast something on Loki which he used an inspiration to save against.  Some sort of paralysis spell.  But since he was still in the darkness, we didn’t know what else he did.  Then everyone else got to go.  Unfortunately, most everyone was in the adjacent hall and without the at will teleportation he had, it was going to take a round or two to get into the main room.  Plus, Kaladin and Patrina were late arriving.

Loki headed towards the exit, hoping that the Mage couldn’t leave the temple? The NPC wizard we promised to take with us was confused and cast Greater Invisibility on himself.  Unfortunately, he stood in a doorway.  Baron Q plowed into him and was forced to stop.  Ezra plowed into him and knocked him over.  Some of us were still exhausted from the ghosts last time and moved at half.  The Mage appeared in the first hallway.  He cast Heat Metal on the sword hilt in hopes of forcing Loki to drop it.  He then cast Chain Lightning on 4 of us.  Ezra and Ireena saved and evaded it.  Loki and Lord Q didn’t save and took all 50.  And then teleported away.  Baron Q dispelled the Heat Metal and turned the corner to head up the last hallway to the exit only to find him up there waiting.  And this was the hallway with the huge steps so it was going to be Athletics rolls and difficult terrain to get up it.  Ezra got up one step.  Loki fired 4 shots and with the Mage’s Shield, missed on all four.  He continued towards the crack in the wall exit the barbarians used. 

At this point, the Mage made his mistake.  He teleported into the midst of us and up cast Banishment.  Loki and Esmeralda missed the save and disappeared.  (Along with the sword, by the way.)  I think around here, he revealed his true form.  A fox headed demi god? Baron Q cast a Mental Prison but he saved.  And the conciliation physic damage all bounced.  But now the melee guys could finally catch up.  Kharn raced up the stairs and with an extra boost of movement from raging, hit him.  Right around here, that NPC wizard decided it was time to make his move and cast Cone of Cold on a bunch of us including the Mage.  And promptly went back invisible.  Then Kaladin went.  He hexed the Mage, then hit him.  All the damage bounced except the one point of necrotic from the hex.  That caused him to miss his concentration and the banished returned.  He then missed his stunning fist save.  Then Ezra hit him with a 2^nd level smite and crit him with another 2^nd level smite doing a ton.

At that point, now bloodied, the Mage teleported across the room as a free action and cast a Fireball?  While stunned? But he had been “breaking the rules” the whole fight.  Stunned, he got hit 3 times by Loki and hit by Esmeralda and finished off by a Disintegrate from Lady P.  Meanwhile the NPC wizard’s Quasit attacked and its master kept fighting.  The Quasit was finished off pretty quickly but we could not target the guy.  He finished off Lady P and Loki with a Fireball.  And once berried, took them out again.  However, that revealed he was in the hallway upstairs.  Esmeralda cast an AOE persistent Cinder Cloud.  He finally dropped after two rounds of that.  As is usually the case, half the players were at death’s door and half were barely touched.  A bunch of things were proposed to do.  Bandaging, short rest, searching his lair in the statue, trying to figure out if the missing part of the sword was in there or elsewhere or needed at all, transferring Ezra’s Cleric scrolls to the NPC Ireena, leaving, staying, and another half dozen things.  But we didn’t seem to be able to do anything but bring up more stuff.  At this point, the chronicler went to bed as he had an early morning the next day.  Perhaps the back up chronicler can add on from there.

After defeating the Amber Golem last time, we took a pause to reassess.  We had been told that the Sun Sword would have been dropped near the entrance.  However, we were pretty deep into the temple at this point.  We decided to double back.  (Which was ironic since the next door was the last door on this side.)  On the way, we decided to search the mage chapel a bit more.  While searching for secret doors, we found a singed mage hiding behind the lectern.  He claimed to have come in with his master who was burned to a crisp by flaming skulls.  On the other side.  After some questioning, we agreed to leave him there and come back and get him on our way out.  Back in the room with the now plugged hole in the floor, Loki found a secret door.  That lead to a scroll storage room however none of the scrolls were intact.  Just bits and dust.  We skipped the main room and went to the other side.  In there were some barbarian types and their pet Dire Wolf.  Ezra managed to negotiate a discussion.  Evidently, they were hunters that were using this place as a camp.  For a deserted temple that required at least 11^th level to enter, it sure was busy in here.

So, we agreed to part without a fight however the door behind them was the last stone unturned.  We went into the main room and searched.  There were no doors and no one found any secret doors.  We knew there was a room on this level that had the red mist but hadn’t found it yet.  We did note that the big statue in the room had a Darkness at its head.  Which meant we couldn’t see who it was.  We thought about dispelling it or climbing up but decided to delay messing with it.  Maybe there was a sleeping god up there.  That led us back to the barbarians.  Ezra asked what they wanted to let us pass.  500 gp, which was outrageous but we had it.  For that, they said they’d pack up and leave.  Before they left, Loki used his Wand of Detect Magic since Lord Q was not present.  He did not detect anything on them.  Like a Sun Sword.  They left via a crack in the wall in the room.  The door was opened and we saw a long hallway with 6 flaming skulls.

Once again, they plastered us with low DC Fireballs.  We rolled poorly on initiative and just had to take it.  Those with Evasion fared much better but 4 Fireballs, even at half damage, hurt.  Kaladin and Ambrus got critted by eye rays as well.  We took them out but needed a short rest before going on.  We had used up our healing from the previous fights.  In the hall was the body of the master of the guy we’d seen before.  He was indeed burnt and his spell books destroyed.  His magic staff was okay.  Lady Patrina took that to be Identified later.  We held up in the barbarian room.  A few minutes in, that apprentice knocked.  He wanted a status and was particularly interested in his master’s books and staff.  Patrina hid the staff in her Portable Hole.  According to him, it was a staff of cold.  We finished our short rest and headed down the hallway.  We found a door that led down a level but we left it.  We were still hoping the sword was up here.  We found a room that stored potions but none were magic anymore.  We then found a room with a model of the vampire’s castle.  The battered crates and chest in the corner were empty and Loki used another charge and found no magic.  At the end of the hall was a door that led into a banquet room with a fine meal laid out.  And a door that probably lead to the balcony overlooking the main room.  Loki announced that the ewer was magic.  Patrina rushed forward and grabbed it with the intent of putting it away for further study.

When she touched it, a dozen Specters appeared in the chairs.  Multiple people ordered her to put it back but unfortunately her initiative was low and she went after every Specter.  Some delayed but there was no point.  Combat ensued.  Their to hit bouns was 4 and Brian rolled low so they barely hit.  They mostly swung at Patrina.  However, when they died, all that were near them had to make a Con save or take a level of exhaustion.  Several took two levels and were really screwed.  She cast a Dawn spell however it was the usual AOE friendly fire nightmare.  She tried to order people to leave the room but they could not until their turn.  Meanwhile, the Specters started to fly through the walls to escape.  It was a mess but they were taken out in a couple rounds.  With the Dawn still going, she decided to move it onto the statue to cancel the Darkness.  Everyone got one round of movement before she did this and that left us scattered.

It turns out, Dawn does not cancel Darkness although it did allow us to see the head of the god of secrets.  But it also awoke the archimage sleeping in its head.  He demanded to know who dared to disturb him.  We asked some questions.  Patina advised him to move out of the statue and would not move her spell.  So, the mage teleported next to her as a move action, cast Finger of Death and killed her.  How he found her, I’m not sure.  But villains play by their own rules.  Ezra attempted to calm things down.  He was here doing research.  He knew nothing about the sword and claimed to know nothing about Stradhanya which we found unbelievable.  (Maybe this was Stradhanya, for the truly paranoid.)  We said we wanted the sword to defeat her evil reign and he seemed to at least consider it.  During this, Ezra used his last Lay on Hands to save Patrina.  Meanwhile, Loki slipped away and went into the main room.  Ezra could sense that he was not being truthful about the sword.  Loki climbed the statue and felt his way around and found the eye hole.  I.e. the Darkness was still there.  The Mage started to sense something was wrong while Ezra tried to keep him engaged.  The Mage took a step to get line of sight to the statue and teleported over just as Loki grabbed ahold of a sword hilt with a good perception roll.  “What are you doing, squirrel?”  “Er, just trying to prevent a fight over a sword you say you didn’t need.”  He’s got True Sight always on, of course.  We stopped there.  It seems like a tall order but since he had the sword, it seems as if we are supposed to defeat him.    

Before and after, we had some discussions about Path Finder.  Other than Dan, everyone had varying degrees of apprehension about this new system.  Most of the backgrounds being considered were orphans and outcasts that happen to find themselves in this village.  Brian was hoping for better links but was willing to work on it.  It’s a common problem.  The game designers build towns that are most humans but the players all want to be non-humans.  You’d think these designers would have figure that out by now.  Or make humans better.  Brian said we’d start at 1^st and has shelved the junior mage school idea for now.  The general trend seems to be trouble maker young adults, bored with their small town.  Anyhow, the ideas presented were as follows.  Dan has a gnome sorcerer with dragon magic.  DG has a human shape changing Druid, black sheep daughter of the town leader.  BTO was thinking charming Swashbuckler but hadn’t gotten any further.  Paul was thinking a Bard Orc or half Orc.  Andy was thinking a blessed Rogue.  And Jon was thinking an elf Monk who is more of an unarmed fighter whose style translates as Monk.  Although since no one was doing a Wizard, he was feeling some obligation to do so.  So, currently its 3 martial and 3 magic.