TOPIC: Meet at the Inn

Adeya wrote: Congrats Picc!

"Perhaps we can do even more with this wish," I say thinking out loud. "If we wish that Strahd himself never became a vampire wouldn't that save Gertruda, Ireena, and countless others? I don't know its limits, but this scroll is far more powerful than anything I've ever come across before."

I've run this module over half a dozen times now and I must admit I dont think anyone has ever used the wish quite that way. I'd have to fish out my domains of dread and review the detailed history a bit, would be interesting XD

"Adeya, think about that wish for a moment. Part of the teaching of Pelor that I learned in the monetary was to accept what has already happened.

If we change what has happened we will leave a vacuum for other evil to fill. Will that evil be worse than what we hope to end here? What form of creature might fill the void that we create and what would be the consequences of that action?

It is a noble thought dear lady but I would advise against it. I am not even sure the strongest magic could be so far reaching. Who knows the devastation we may leave by the wish just trying to fulfill itself."

Barkley nods. "It is said there are three things a wish cannot do: kill someone, raise someone from the dead, or cause someone to fall in love. Remember, Strahd was corrupted generations ago. To wish he hadn't been would be the same as wishing he'd died naturally. I fear the best we could hope is that the magic would fail... But I do not pretend to be an expert on such matters"

"Barkley, that's just an old Walt's tale," Lexan shakes his head, "I've personally seen a Limited Wish do two of those things, and a weaker still spell do the third. The problem is how to speak the Wish. Wording it wrong can have... unusual results."

"I think perhaps Delmar's suggestion might be the best. Perhaps we could use the scroll to assemble the elements of the sword, if they are scattered, in Sergei's crypt. I think we might honor the dead brother there with the Sun Sword. I have a guess that some of the elements of the sword may already be there. The next time we face Strahd, he may not be alone. His master may be there and we will need the sword, the raven, and all the help Pelor can give us. Delmar, most of all we will need you and I don't know how to best address that unless you are the one wielding the Sun Sword. Perhaps it will give you a shield against Strahd's power to control you."

(I pause and search my memory and for all the lore concerning vampires and Strahd and the powers that may have entrapped Strahd. I'm doing a lore check for the power behind Strahd. I am also trying to remember any lore about a sword such as this.)

(OOC: Back from my wedding abroad, all went well, hope to have pictures of my TD t-shirt in some cool places back soon)

Widseth wrote: (I pause and search my memory and for all the lore concerning vampires and Strahd and the powers that may have entrapped Strahd. I'm doing a lore check for the power behind Strahd. I am also trying to remember any lore about a sword such as this.)

Few, if any, records detail the events surrounding the life of the warrior-prince Strahd von Zarovich. It is known (for he freely admits it) that he and his family had been driven out of their ancestral homes by an enemy he calls the Tergs. Exactly who these people were or what their motivations might have been we have no way of knowing. It is enough to say that they
are painted as ransacking barbarians by Strahd, and there seems to be no reason to discount his assertions.

After decades of warfare, Strahd and his legions drove the Tergs back through the mountain passes from which they had come. Entering the valley of Barovia at the head of a weary and battered army, the great prince claimed the right to rule over all the lands that had been reclaimed from the Tergs. Some scholars point to this as being nothing more than the trading of one tyrant for another.

For all his outward enthusiasm and vitality, the lord of Barovia was but a shell of the man he had once been. Years of campaigning had left him mentally, emotionally, and physically drained. While his health was sound enough, his spirit had passed into a gray, wasting period that could only end in a lingering demise of the soul and then the flesh.

With the coming of his brother Sergei, however, Strahd's life suddenly changed. Sergei was nearly two decades younger than Strahd and among the most handsome men in Barovia. In many ways, he reminded the warrior-prince of himself in the years before he had taken up the sword and shield. He had but to look upon Sergei to see all the vibrance of a life he himself might have known. Strahd, of course, despised him for this.

In coming to the valley, Sergei had met a young woman named Tatyana. She was every bit as beautiful and vital as Sergei, so it came as no surprise to anyone when they announced their plans to marry. Strahd, however, took this news as a defeat greater than any he had ever experienced in war. The lord of Barovia was deeply and passionately in love with this simple
village girl. He saw in her a chance to recapture all the things that he thought lost to him.

On the day of their wedding, Strahd killed Sergei sealing a pact the vampire clams to have made with death itself. In an act of despair Tatyana flung herself from the walls of castle Ravenloft. No trace of her was ever found though it is rumored her dying wish was for Strahd to die by his brothers blade. Upon hearing this the vampire allegedly ordered the blade destroyed though given current circumstance the final dispensation of this order is highly suspect.

I contemplate the history and review it with my companions.

"I think we need to make a decision. Delmar, if we wish for the components of the sword to be assembled in Sergei's tomb, will you want to wield it? It sounds to me as if it is a sword made to be used by a paladin, or do you think it would be too dangerous, acknowledging the fact that Strahd may be able to control you, as he did Ismark. If not you, who should wield the sword?"

"I think, Widseth, that Sergei's sword might offer protection to our friend if he were to bear it. I think wishing for the sword and having Delmar use it would strengthen us enough to defeat Strahd."

"I like new swords!" Cram blurts our with childlike excitement.

"Ah, but this would be quite the old sword, Friend Cram," Lexan deadpans.

"I think restoring the sword is a wise use of the wish. Or perhaps we could utilize the wish to ensure Strahd remains dead after we restore him to that state."

(I smile at Cram.)

"Friend, you would be my second choice to wield the sword if Delmar is unable, but I fear the magical nature of the weapon might be something you might not enjoy."

"There are some curious blanks in our knowledge. Strahd does not know where the sword is hidden. He fears the prophesy of Tatyana's dying wish, yet her body was never found in the tales I've heard. Would she have stated that publicly before she leapt to her death? Who would have disassembled the sword and hidden it after Sergei's death--Tatyana?--after laying her love to his rest? How powerful is the dweomer we felt in his crypt? Will it keep Strahd from entering there?"

(I shake my head.)

"I want to inspect Sergei's crypt and sword again."

(I walk toward his crypt.)

Despite the devastation to the crypts in general it seems Sergei's has remained largely unharmed. Save for a sprinkling of dust rattled loose from the ceiling it is as you left it.