I separated from the group into the mists fearing mist walkers who might also be sought after by shadow master guild members -- it was the only explanation for being taken suddenly from Neverwinter into somewhere so unfamiliar and dark. Even in daytime here, the place we have found ourselves in is a world of shadow.
I followed the group from several yards behind, sticking to the shadows, barely beyond the edges, looking for my hunters. I watched from a distance as the group went through a large gate that indicated our location. We are in Barovia! This is the place the common Neverwinter citizen would dismissively call a fairy tale horror (I suppose in the same way, the Shadow master Guild might be called the same), but here we are!
The group was contacted by the local lord of this land, Strahd was his name. He asked the group to seek out a castle in the middle of Lake Zarovich where something of his was misplaced. Again, trailing behind the group, I watched as they obtained a seer reading from what could only be classified as traveling lycanthropes? I'm not sure if anyone can be trusted here.
Once I was sure we weren't being pursued I rejoined the party on their journey to Lake Zarovich. It was good to be back with my old companions, plus a new member who had joined us. As we walked, I briefly got to know Yunaesa, or Yuna, for short. A high elven Life Cleric skilled in the healing arts and a welcome addition to the team.
As we walked along the trail, Inrah kept watch above, but it seemed a struggle for her as giant bats would swoop at her if she went above the tree line. She did spot a horrific looking three-armed deathly looking troll who moved into the road about 100 yards out from us and blocked our path. I slipped into the shadows and moved ahead establishing a psychic link with the being. It was dark and empty in its mind except for one thought, food. Shadow was making his way toward the troll when I grabbed a ration and floated it toward him with my telekinesis. He grabbed the food fiercely and began to grossly stuff it in his maw.
As Shadow passed by the beast, his thoughts changed to "not food." Clearly our warforged friend was not seen as a threat. Inrah risked the bats above and flew safely out of its range unnoticed. Lefty snuck by unnoticed. Yuna decided she could also stroll past, but I heard in the troll's mind "food" to which I quickly responded, "Not food!" This confused the troll as he looked around thinking the trees were talking to him. With Yuna safely sprinting past the threat, I broke the psychic link with a friendly, if not sarcastic, "goodbye." The troll, infuriated we had tricked our way past him, hurled a rock at Shadow to no avail. Our favorite Monk deftly dodged the boulder that was headed straight for his head!
Soon we found ourselves walking through another gate similar to the one we walked through as we entered through the mists. It appeared to be an old war-torn ground now abandoned, and strangely consecrated. You could feel the goodness in the area. I turned to Yuna to ask if she felt what I was feeling. Yuna winked and said, you don't need me to tell you what you feel on consecrated ground. We all feel it here. As we proceeded further, pains of old guilt rose within each of us. Particularly fresh on our minds was not knowing the true fate of our old companion, Sai, the druid. Should we have jumped into the pit after him, sealing all our fates? He seems to be the only one of us that could somehow survive that fall . . . transformed into a bug or some such druid trick. Still, it was a collapsed dungeon that we didn't see him escape after being whisked away in the mists.
Eventually we saw Lake Zarovich and the castle the lord of this land had sent us to explore. The water of this lake was strangely crystal clear with patches of moss on the surface. The drawbridge leading to the castle was crushed in its center point and collapsed in the middle. At first we considered row boats from Inyah's cloak of many things. But those boats could only hold 2 persons at most. The drawbridge seemed to be the most sensible way to enter the castle.
Seeing the gap was roughly 30 feet at its lowest point, I ran forward and teleported across the bridge. The far side was a little slippery, but I managed to maintain my footing and make it to the other side. Inrah flew over to me, and I tied a well-constructed knot on a pillar to the side. First to cross with our rope handhold was Yuna. Unfortunately, the cleric (not the most athletic or acrobatic of us), lost her footing and ended up in the water, which now stirred with motion as something "reptilian" dove in from the far side.
Lefty began to cross and scooped up the soaking Yuna and made it to the other side just as the giant maw of a crocodile bit the water where she had floundered. Last to cross, now knowing the water was infested with biting jaws, was Shadow. He had no issues beginning to cross (it was like watching a circus acrobat) but almost slipped in at the end much like I had, but his large, metallic and wooden feet smashed into the side and almost created a patch of stairs for us to use the next time we had to cross. To those ends, we left our rope and proceeded into the castle.
The castle itself was ruined. Just our luck. If not a ruined and abandoned church, it's a ruined and abandoned castle. We all set about searching for entrances. I discovered two entrances, using my psi-bolstered knack for investigation, one that appeared to be a servant's entry and another that was an entry for the old barracks. Shadow, on the other hand, noticed something that was even more intriguing! Down a well, there was a strange doorway about 30 feet down! Shadow jumped in and scraped one automaton hand down the side of the well to slow fall, but heavy from his form, sunk even deeper down into the well. when he surfaced, he had an old dirty rag on his head, but a few extra coin in his hand from scraping old wishes off the bottom.
The rest of us followed and found a short, 5-foot tunnel we could enter the castle through. We found ourselves in what appeared to be an old church storage room full of rotted and worthless goods, but there was a door that led us further down. Coming to a fork, we decided to take the "clockwise" path and headed left. As we proceeded down the hallway, suddenly Shadow was struck by an undead specter floating through the walls! We sprinted down the pathway as Shadow found two doors. One barred, one that needed only a strike from his fist to open.
Entering the room, the specters attacked again! I was able to shatter one with my psychic blades. Yuna was also successful by casting evil out with searing pains from her holy rebukes. The undead turned and screamed as they ran. One of the specters above us in the ceiling, which had also taken a firebolt and an arrow from Inrah and Lefty, splattered from Yuna's rebuke.
Unfortunately, the third specter, now away from Yuna's holy aura, came charging back, directly at Inrah . . . who had thrown a taunt in its direction. Inrah plunged a knife into the shadowed form, and that's when things got a little messy . . . . Shadow punched at the specter and fumbled his shot, slamming his fist into Inrah, knocking her unconscious. I stabbed at the specter and fumbled my shot, stabbing Shadow with a psychic blade, striking with unusual precision. Luckily my second shot against the specter rang true and it disappeared into dust from the blow.
We should work more on our close combat maneuvers as a group! Thank goodness Yuna was there to patch us up with her healing staff.
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