Session 24

— 11th of Octyavr, 735

Entry 24. As the corpse snapped and grabbed Brando's arm, the other corpses sprung from their seats to demonstrate why *dead things should be left alone*. Brando managed to wrangle himself free from the hold of the skeletal warrior and disengage while the rest of the group took positions to back up their friend with fireballs. The battle was long and exhausting. These revenants fought with the same might of their previous lives, their undead state only fortifying them and fueling their hatred. The group didn't give up either, fighting with everything they had until Valyra following Brando collapsed to the ground unconscious. The tides were against them but Emeric persevered. By making clever use of his summons, keeping a safe distance and with enough luck he was able to kill the last one of these undead warriors.

As Brando and Valyra came back to consciousness bruised and beaten, they decided to set up camp in that spacious dinning room and recover from their battle at death's door. Rousing from their sleep after recuperating, Valyra noticed some blurry forms floating over the bodies of the revenants they had faced, starring at them with sunken eyes and mouths agape. Frightened, the group attacked one of the ghosts, seemingly unresponsive to any forms of communication. Immediately the group of specters converged towards the group and they ran towards the exit frantically but seemingly faster than them and insubstantial they grouped in the center of the great hall, blocking their path. Emeric took Brando's hand and with a quick motion they found themselves out of this mansion, leaving Valyra inside alone. Unsure of what to do, she ushered a fireball through the specters, exploding on the nearby wall and dissipating as a white flame that merged with the dispersing forms of the specters, swirling before her until the smoke-like vapor settled in the form of a ferocious dragon. It roared at her before uttering *"my men have fallen into darkness. Save them if you can. Show them the light they have lost."* and vanished before she could respond. At that moment Emeric apparated next to her again and found her starring astounded at the walls, explaining that there was a dragon here before. They argued a bit, due to Valyra's persistence to explore more of this castle though upon arriving to a room that was seemingly full of webs and gigantic spiders she changed her mind and made a beeline for the exit. Polymorphing herself into a giant eagle she carried her friends to Vallaki before the night could settle. There they came upon a gathering of some sort of the villagers in the center of the town but Valyra rushed to get the two dresses she had ordered and headed to the inn to change clothes and rest. Renting rooms at the bar, the form of a blue dragonborn piqued her curiosity. Dragex as well had taken notice of the group that entered the inn, the elven women especially was matching the description of one of the adventurers he was searching for. They conversed a bit and Dragex revealed to her that he had met her dead friend, Ambrose and had read his thoughts only to find seething rage and hatred towards Valyra and that there was something affecting him negatively. She drowned her sorrows that night in wine and the rest contemplated their fate. In the morning before they had a real chance to even finish their breakfast they were ushered by guards to the central square where every single villager had gathered to witness the Festival of the Blazing Sun. Baron Vargas walked on the raised dais and held a speech, interrupted by a woman in her late 50's accusing him of greed and arrogance, shouting at the villagers that Strahd has been misunderstood and that she can be a better leader than him. The baron had his guards go after her, calling her a witch and threatening to burn her at the stake. Her followers protected her from the guards and the angry mob that formed in front of the platform. Soon all the villagers were fighting between them and the guards. Valyra's spells were noticed by the Baron who also called her a witch and ushered his guards to get her too. In an effort to calm the crowd, Dragex started playing his instruments with seemingly no effect and instead he chose to create the image of a glowing orb above him, shining like the sun. The trick had worked and the crowd had stop to witness something that most of them had never seen before, the sun, orbiting above Dragex. The baron interpreted it as a sign and immediately began praising the Morninglord and Dragex as being his embodiment. He hailed him to the stage and  acclaimed him as a sign that their God has jot abandoned them and that the sun will shine again over the valley. The baron had his guards arrest the woman that spoke against him and dragged her to the jailhouse. The baron's plan to burn her at the stake was halted by the intervention of the new avatar of the Morninglord for the time being as now Vargas invited the group to dine with him at his mansion.

"Long is the way and hard, that out of Hell leads up to the light."

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