Having fulfilled Kasimir’s quest to restore his sister Patrina to life, the heroes depart through a portal in the Amber Temple and seek out the Mad Mage of Mount Baratok. They find themselves upon the shore of Lake Zarovich where they meet the old wizard who offers to repair the broken gem from Berez. But after spending several days in the wizard’s lodge, they begin to suspect that things are not what they seem.

Player characters: Casaba, Gorgonzola, Kane, Nyr
Assistant DM characters: Ismark, Takarov

Part 10. The Mad Mage

1.

When the heroes embarked for the Amber Temple, Ireena and Ismark began their investigation of the boy inside the locket. With the aid of Cespenar the Imp, who appeared to guide them, they discovered the awful truth. Ireena’s blood brother was Izek, the fiendish henchman of Baron Vargas Vallakovich, the Burgomaster of Vallaki. Horrified by their discovery, Ireena and Ismark fled from the town.

Once again, the siblings found themselves on the road. But now the sun was high in the sky, the roads were free of mists, and there seemed to be less danger in the valley. The heroes from abroad had vanquished Strahd on Zarovich. Surely, the siblings could return to the Town of Barovia and live out the rest of their lives in peace.

Yet Ireena felt in her heart that Strahd was not wholly defeated. She feared that his shadow might return. Only by helping those heroes who had challenged him could she hope to find true peace.

“Ismark, we must find the others. We must aid them in their quests.”

“But Ireena, they have journeyed to a most dangerous place. It is far too perilous for us. Besides, we cannot hope to be of any use to them.”

“If we do not assist them now, then I fear the sun will not last. The valley will be plunged into darkness once more, and our people will be lost.”

Ismark was swayed by his sister’s words. Ireena and Ismark traced the heroes’ footsteps, following them to the Amber Temple.

Inside the temple, they followed the path that the heroes had taken and came to a chamber with pieces of amber scattered everywhere. From there, they followed the small pieces of amber that had fallen on the floor. It led them by the safest path to the lower level of the temple. Here, they were reunited with the heroes who had made a dark discovery.

 

2.

After braving the dangers of the Amber Temple, the heroes had arrived in the lower level. Along the way, they discovered a magical tome in one of the chambers. It looked like the tome had been unearthed once before, but was left here for the party to discover. The heroes were startled to find a note inside the Tome. It was written by Gydean, nine years ago when he had first come through the temple. It was a message addressed to Kane.

Kane, your impetuous nature will benefit from this tomb.
You will need it for things to come.

A tear rolled down Kane’s cheek as he read these words. For the past few days, he had been tormented by the thought that he had been twice abandoned by Gydean. The original Gydean had left him when he departed from the valley nine years ago. Then just a few days ago, the simulacrum of Gydean had left him upon Yester Hill after discovering the horrible truth about himself. But now Kane felt that Gydean had not truly abandoned him. Finding the note inside the tome renewed his desire to find his old friend and save him from a terrible fate.

As they continued, the heroes also came across the remains of an ancient construct. It was a strange contraption made of metal that had the appearance of a tall knight. Gorgonzola the goblin paladin recognized the markings upon the construct as matching those on the amulet taken from Vilnius, the wizard’s apprentice. When Gorgonzola fiddled with his amulet, amazingly the ancient construct came to life. It knelt before the goblin paladin as if swearing allegiance to him, and thereafter it followed Gorgonzola’s commands.

Finally, the party descended to the deepest part of the temple. Inside a dark chamber, they discovered tall slabs of solid amber, arranged like sarcophagi within a great tomb. In each amber sarcophagus, there were black, misty tendrils of shadow. When someone approached, the tendrils reached out toward them but were pulled back into the amber. The party realized that they were standing inside the tomb of the evil deities of legend. They began to hear voices inside their heads which whispered to them, offering them all that their hearts desired.

Yet the heroes refused, knowing the nature of the dark powers that had been sealed within the Amber Temple, and the fate that surely awaited them if they made a pact with these evil vestiges. Both Strahd and Gydean had brokered with these powers, and it brought misery upon them both.

Kasimir the dusk elf alone approached one of the vestiges and made the wish that he had long desired. He wished to restore his sister Patrina to life.

Dark tendrils emerged from the surface of the amber and wrapped themselves around the elf. A long silence followed as Kasimir was engulfed in a cocoon of darkness. Then suddenly, the tendrils returned to their sarchophagus. Kasimir fell to his knees, gasping for air. When his companions helped him to his feat, he spoke weakly.

“It is done. My sister has returned to the living. I must go to her.”

It was then that Ismark and Ireena arrived. Ireena had heard the voices as well. She desired nothing more than to leave this land. She approached one of the Amber sarcophagi and began reaching toward it, intent on making a wish upon the dark vestige. But Casaba stood in her way and blocked her path.

“My lady, do not look to these dark powers to grant your wish,” said Casaba. “The people of Vallaki call me the Morninglord. If you trust me, ask of me what you will, and the Morninglord shall grant your wish.”

“I… I am frightened,” Ireena replied in halting words. “I thought I could help you, but all I want in this moment is to leave this place. I want to be anywhere but here.”

Suddenly, as if in answer to her words, several wide circles of glowing runes appeared between the amber slabs. Inside each circle, the party saw a vision of a different place – a dark and quiet town, a dense forest beside a lake, a somber keep upon a high hill, and a camp on a hilltop outside a walled town. Kane guessed that these were portals leading to other parts of the valley. His intuition told him that they were not created by the dark powers. Some other force had created them, but who or what was their mysterious benefactor?

It was then that the heroes remembered the Mad Mage of Mount Baratok They had heard that he dwelled on the other side of Lake Zarovich to the north of the Town of Vallaki. Perhaps they could use one of these portals to travel to him swiftly and ask him to repair the broken gem from Berez. With the gem restored, the people of the valley might stand a better chance of restoring the vineyard and growing new crops with which to produce wine for themselves.

The party took a leap of faith and stepped through the portal. Kasimir alone did not go with them. He went by a different path to find his sister Patrina who he believed awaited him, promising to return once he was reunited with her and had begged her for forgiveness.

 

3.

The heroes found themselves at the shore of a lake beside a forest. They recognized the location as Lake Zarovich, where they had rescued the Vistani girl Arrabelle from an untimely death. The heroes found a wooden hut beside the shore. An old man with a long white beard wearing a neat robe stood at the edge of the lake.

The old man waited until several large fish swam nearby. Then, he made a quick gesture with his hands. Lightning arced from his fingertips toward the lake, causing a pillar of water to explode upward. The fish fell onto the shore, partly cooked by the blast of lightning. The old man carried the fish to a nearby bonfire and cooked them.

The heroes hailed the old man by the fire and introduced themselves. He greeted them and invited them to join him for supper.

“My name is Heinrich Stolt,” he said. “Pleased to make your acquaintance. Would you like some fish?”

During dinner, the heroes showed the broken gem to the old man named Heinrich and asked if he could repair it. He put on a pair of spectacles and examined the pieces closely.

“Oh my. That is quite a broken gem. It will take a week to put the pieces back together.”

Heinrich asked for no reward for his service, but merely invited the party to stay in his hut while he repaired the magic gem.

He heroes spent the following week in the old man’s hut, which was magically expanded to the size of a grand lodge, with enough rooms to accommodate the entire party. Kane proceeded to barricade himself inside his room and insisted that no one disturb him until he was finished reading the tome from the Amber Temple. Each of his companions kept themselves busy during the next six days.

Ismark and Ireena kept to themselves and reflected on all that they had experienced so far. They thought about Izek whom they had left behind in the town of Vallaki. They were horrified by the stories they had heard about the terrible deeds that Izek had done as the burgomaster’s henchman. What would they do if they encountered Isek again? Would they flee from him, or try to reason with him and turn him away from the path of violence?

Takarov and Gorgonzola, being seasoned warriors, made preparations for the battle ahead. Takarov the old mercenary whittled a bundle of arrows from twigs piled up beside the lodge. For the arrowheads, he used the shards of amber that he had caught in his beard during the fight with the amber golem. Gorgonzola the goblin paladin spent each day in prayer and brewed six flasks of holy water, giving one to each of his companions.

Nyr observed the old man Heinrich closely. Despite the rumors of his madness, he did not seem crazy at all. On the contrary, Heinrich appeared to be quite sane and even claimed to remember his own name. But when anyone asked him where he came from, he brushed aside the question as if it was unimportant. And strangely, while he continued to cook meals for the party and pour them glasses of wine from a magical ewer, he was never seen eating the fish that he had cooked, or drinking anything for that matter.

As the days passed, Casaba the goblin bard grew curious about the woods beyond the lodge, but he dared not venture forth by himself. Instead, he used his bardic magic of clairvoyance to peer into the forest. Each day, he magically scried a location that was further and further away from the lodge. For the first three days, all he saw were dense woods. Then, on the fourth day, he scried a place a little over half a mile away. He was startled to see the snow-covered slopes of a high mountain. Yet, when he looked out the window of the lodge, all he saw were dense forests for many miles around the lodge.

Casaba grew concerned, but he did not tell his companions until he had more information. He spent the next few days continuing to scry further afield. He saw more snowy, rocky slopes and high mountain roads covered with frost.

 

4.

On the sixth day, as Kane burst forth his chamber with burning with eldritch wisdom, Casaba made a shocking discovery. He scried a high mountain pass with a portcullis and a gorge with a stone bridge flanked by guard towers. It was the Tsolenka Pass.

Casaba gathered together his companions and told them what he had discovered.

“My friends, I have dire news! I don’t think we are at Lake Zarovich at all. We are still inside the Amber Temple!”

In that moment, the arcane mirage dissolved all around them. The wooden lodge, the lake and the forest melted away like shadows. As the illusion fell away, it was replaced by the cold stone floor and walls of the Amber Temple.

From the shadows of the temple, Heinrich Stolt emerged. He was no longer an old man, but had the head of a jackal. Beside him, three skulls wrapped in green flames floated in the air.

Gorgonzola recognized him for what he was. Heinrich was not an old man but a powerful fiend, a yugoloth from beyond the material plane.

“So, you have seen through our little ruse,” said Heinrich. “Well done. But now I tire of this game. It is time to bring our story to an end. But first, I supposed I should thank our coven of witches for their services.”

Heinrich held out the broken gem in his hand. With a snap of his fingers, the gem was whole again. Then he held it out to the shadows beside him. A hand emerged from the darkness, claw-like and wrinkled with great age, and grasped the gem held before it.

Three witches emerged from the shadows. The one that held the gem was an ancient crone dressed in rags the color of ageless moss and lichen. The two hags beside her were familiar to the party. They were the witches who fled from the Old Bonegrinder where the heroes had found the Sunsword and rescued Ismark and Ireena.

“They’re the ones!” cried the two hags. “They killed Morgantha and drove us from our windmill! Make them pay, Baba Lysaga!”

The ancient crone named Baba Lysaga spoke with a voice that crackled with age.

“Oh, do not worry, my pets. They will pay for their transgressions. I have reclaimed that which was stolen. Now, I will punish them for bringing pain and death to the one most dear to me, the one I brought into this world as midwife… Strahd, my beloved and most perfect child!”

The heroes drew their weapons and defended themselves against the flaming skulls and witches. But they were no match for Heinrich and Baba Lysaga. Kane leapt forward with his fists, but a simple word from the jackal headed fiend stunned and paralyzed him where he stood.

With their mighty magic, the evil creatures laid low the heroes and their allies. Kane watched helplessly as his friends were burned alive in a storm of fire and lightning. Those who remained standing were put to sleep by the hags’ spells. At last, the ancient witch Baba Lysaga, mad with vengeful hatred, used her most powerful incantation to cause an earthquake, bringing the ceiling crashing down around the party. The startled yugoloth beside her hardly had time to protest.

“This was not part of our arrangement!” Heinrich said angrily.

“It matters not, fiend! Revenge will be mine! Heeeeee hee hee hee hee!” Baba Lysaga laughed maniacally.

The heroes were buried beneath the falling stones of the temple. Kane was the last to see the stones falling all around him before the darkness took him.

 

5.

They did not know how many days or weeks had passed before their charred bodies were recovered from the ruins of the Amber Temple. The dusk elf, Patrina, had found them and used her magic to dig them free from the rubble. As repayment for their role in reviving her, Patrina kept the heroes from perishing utterly. But she did not revive them. She could not so easily forgive them for allying themselves with Kasimir, the one who had killed her.

Her brother was a fool to think that he could earn redemption and forgiveness by restoring her to life. What about the pain and grief that she had suffered when she was stoned to death by her own blood and kin? What about the centuries that her soul had endured, being unable depart from the valley and instead being trapped as a specter in the crypts beneath Castle Ravenloft?

Now, Kasimir was dead, slain by Patrina who had been lying in wait for him. With his spellbook, she had regained a portion of her once formidable power. She would regain the rest of her powers once her beloved Strahd von Zarovich returned and rewarded her for capturing the would-be heroes that had destroyed his body.

To be continued…