Falling Apart in the Amber Temple

Well, I had planned to let Trevor sleep, but after another couple of hours sitting there alone, haunted by my thoughts and fears, I couldn’t take it anymore. I woke him up.
 
After he rubbed the sleep from his eyes and actually sat up, I asked him why he was here. Why Trevor agreed to even come to the Amber Temple in the first place.
He said that he hoped to find answers as to how we can defeat Strahd and “go home”, but that he had no intention of accepting any of the dark gifts.
 
We went back and forth a little bit… until I caught something he said that struck me as being off… Trevor said that he would take a dark power if they were like, this will allow you to defeat Strahd and send everyone home… even if he had to stay here.
I asked him why, when all he’s talked about since I met him in the village of Barovia, is finding a way back to Faerun through the mists. He looked a bit embarrassed, but he said that when he first arrived, all he wanted to do was return home. But now, Barovia has its charms, and that if he has to stay, he’ll make the best of it, but if he is able to return home, then he wants me to go with him.
 
I know when someone is hiding something from me, not saying what they actually mean… if Trevor is saying what I think he is saying… holy shit. How deep do his feelings run, I can’t help but wonder? I really wish that we had some time to ourselves, like an entire night where we didn’t have to worry about others eavesdropping on our conversations… but that is not likely to happen anytime in the near future - and I feel like our time in this life is horribly limited…
 
I asked him why he never said anything before. I mean, I’ve known that he doesn’t dislike me anymore, probably even likes me a bit, but why didn’t he say anything? Trevor replied that there wasn’t the time. Bullshit. There is always time for conversations of the heart. Because if we don’t make time for them, then they are likely to never have the time to happen… and then people leave this life without having talked about how they feel.
 
Trevor seemed surprised when I told him that all he had to do was say something. I motioned to his scar and know I embarrassed him, but I pulled his hand away when he tried to hide it. I asked him why it bothers him so, and he gave some bullshit noncommittal reply. I said that if it bothers him that bad, we can find someone to heal it… even though I actually like it.
 
Trevor looked at me in shock when I told him that I like his scar. Gods, men can be so impossible sometimes. Of course I like it! For gods’ sakes… he pulled Strahd off of me! I was charmed, thinking that the Devil was the sexiest man I’d ever seen… he was feeding off of me, and Trevor ran up and pulled him off of me. Then, proceeded to take the bastard’s own whip away from him.
 
But that’s beside the point. Strahd raked Trevor’s face… and it is something that I’ve had to come to terms with myself - if my willpower had been just a bit stronger, I might not have fallen under Strahd’s spell, and Trevor wouldn’t have gotten that close to him. But, that is beside the fact… the fact of the matter is that Trevor did. He actually stepped between me and Strahd… he physically put his body in front of mine and faced off against the Devil himself. How could I not feel an affection for the scar that he took doing the one thing that I never thought another person would do for me?
 
I mean, a lot of guys will stand up and try to be all “protective” and bullshit. But Trevor isn’t like that. He makes sure that I am as safe as he can when we get into fights, but he doesn’t cramp my style or tell me when, or who I should dance for. It feels like he trusts me to be able to hold my own in a fight, but is always within a distance to come to me if I need help. He pulled Strahd off of me… did I write that clearly enough before? He fucking grabbed him and physically jerked him away from me. I know Kasimir banished Strahd a few moments later, but still… who does that? Who looks at Strahd biting into someone’s neck and thinks to themselves Fuck you. Not today. And then actually attacks him? Trevor Belmont... that’s who.
 
Does Trevor really not understand? Does he not understand that I started falling for him back when he defied Baba Lysaga? Does he not know that my heart was irrevocably lost when he stepped between Strahd and myself outside Vallaki? All he had to do was say something and I would have told him! I would have told him all of this, if he would have but asked me.
 
I think he might have a better idea now. I didn’t come out and tell him exactly how I feel, it would have been awkward - especially with Elaine’s dead eyes watching our every move, but I hope he knows. Or at least, I hope he knows enough that he will feel more comfortable talking to me about in the future.
 
Trevor finally promised to not accept a gift from the dark powers. I basically embarrassed myself and almost begged him not to. I cannot bear the thought of losing him to a curse like that which claimed Strahd’s soul… I am so relieved that he gave me his word. For some reason, I trust Trevor’s word above anyone else in the party right now. Maybe it is my foolish heart talking… but it doesn’t change the fact.
 
A short while later, the rest of the party woke up. We made our way down the winding staircase and entered a large chamber holding rows of sarcophagai lining the outer walls. A giant stone looking construct was guarding a small open doorway leading into another chamber.
 
Adrastos and Kasimir were facing off with each other, swords drawn. Oh fuck.
 
Elaine opened a dimensional portal and stepped through it, pulling Brynden with her. They appeared in the room with Kasimir and Adrastos. As soon as they did, the guardian’s head snapped around and it gripped its sword. Oh fuck. It was probably tracking the magic in the air or something. I very carefully and quietly cast a greater invisibility spell on Trevor. If this monstrosity was going to attack us, I wanted him to have a better chance of survival - because I had the horrible feeling that the guardian’s sword would likely cleave whomever it hit in two… and for reasons I mentioned earlier, I really didn’t want that to be Trevor.
 
I backed away toward the stairs with Eerika, Oswald and Trevor. (I felt him take my hand, so I knew he was there.) We had a whispered conversation back and forth, and it was decided that Eerika and invisible Trevor would likely be able to sneak around the construct, and I would quickly teleport Oswald and myself into the far chamber. The doorway was too small for the guardian to fit inside, so we figured it would be the safest spot for the time being… not to mention, I didn’t trust either of the Chandlers to be able to talk down the duel that was about to happen between Adrastos and Kasimir…
 
It worked. I don’t know why Eerika is so stealthy. Is it maybe some kind of latent dwarven magic? She smells to high heaven, and her armor squeaks every time she moves. But for some reason, whenever she wants to sneak by something, everything is quiet, and she is almost as silent as Trevor.
 
There were three sarcophagai in the chamber… one was shattered, it looked like something had broken out of it from the inside. The other seemed to be fairly undisturbed, and the other one… the one that Adrastos and Kasimir were fighting over, was covered in some shield of ice… I’m assuming that was Brynden’s work, for he was holding the Staff of Frost in his hand and looking at it when we came in.
 
Everyone was arguing. Oswald tried to calm them. I tried to calm them. Between the two of us, we managed to get them to a point where they were at least not trying to actively kill each other. I didn’t know what to do, none of them were actually listening to me, so I began to play my violin and dance a slow, mesmerizing dance. I quickly lost myself in the music, as I am wont to do… I felt a pang of dread for a moment when I noticed Kasimir’s eyes deepen and all his attention focus on me after a minute or two… I worried I was going to pay for that later…
 
Elaine then went up and proceeded to touch the sarcophagai. The one unblemished and unshielded one, revealed to her that it would give whoever accepted its pact, the power of Xanthar - so we inferred that it would turn whomever into a lich. Oh. Hell. No.
 
I don’t know why, perhaps it was her insatiable curiosity, but she then reached out and touched the broken sarcophagus. Black, swirling shadow emanated from it, and the vampire who we have met on several occasions stood among us. It was Vampyr. The dark power who gave Strahd his power, turned the Valley of Barovia into the cutoff land that it is, and made him into the horrible Devil that he is… (or he just made the man into a far worse monster… even if Strahd was always a monster, now he rules the whole valley and controls the very Land).
 
I am so glad that we didn’t try to fight the crazy dwarf-obsessed vampire when he tried to take Erkki, or when he raised Eerika from the dead, or hell, especially when he appeared in the lich’s bedchamber yesterday. We would have been so fucked. A dark power? I knew he was evil… but a dark power? If they are so good at hiding themselves… what the fuck? We are so fucked. We should never have come to this place...
 
He eventually disappeared in a cloud of black smoke and mist. Elaine disappeared, and judging from the reactions of Kasimir and Adrastos, she must have teleported into the ice prison surrounding the third sarcophagus. She called out that the Dark Power contained in that one could bring back anyone from the dead, but the price would be everything.
 
Brynden was rambling on about wanting to raise the silver dragon, Argynvost, from the dead to aid in the fight against Strahd. But Kasimir laughed at him - and I’m inclined to agree. What is to say that the dragon would help us? What is to say that he wouldn’t just kill us for the audacity of raising him from the dead? I don’t know, and frankly, I am not inclined to meddle in that…
 
Everyone was arguing. I tried to get everyone to leave this place, for no one else seemed to realize what this temple was doing to us as a party… it was splitting us up and breaking our camaraderie and trust in each other. This is what simply being close to these powers was doing to us… we needed to leave.
 
Brynden shot me a look that was pure venom, and asked where Trevor was then… if I trusted him so much, where was he now? I looked around and I couldn’t find him… even though the invisibility spell would have worn off by now. I searched somewhat frantically, when I saw him on the far end of the outside chamber, inspecting the guardian from a relatively safe distance. I felt an immediate rush of relief… he appeared to have kept his promise to me after all…
 
I heard one of the dark powers whisper to me in my mind, promising me the beauty and charisma to have anyone and anything that I desire be given to me. When I asked what the price was, the voice merely giggled. I felt sick. I turned away and tried to push any such thoughts from my head. I already am beautiful and skilled enough at the art of conversation and performance to be able to talk my way into, and out of, most situations I find myself in… and I’ve never had a problem finding someone to spend a night with… I had no need of such twisted power - for I knew in my heart that anything in this place would be twisted by the dark, demonic gods that dwelt here… I mean, look at Strahd for example…
 
I pulled myself out of my thoughts and back into the present. Brynden dropped his spell holding the ice dome around the sarcophagus, and Adrastos approached it. He placed his hand upon it, and before any of us could do anything to stop him, he crumbled into dust. It was horrible. He is gone. Just gone. Poor Eerika ran to where his body once was, as though she was trying to find something to cling onto. I didn’t realize that they had become that good of friends. I knew that they had a mutual tolerance for each other, and maybe a bit of affection, but I’ve never seen a dwarf so broken up by someone’s death before. My heart bleeds for her.
 
But that was not even the worst of it… for Brynden… foolish boy… must have crawled his way to the other intact sarcophagus while we were all distracted by Adrastos’ sudden end.
 
Because all of the sudden, as if out of nowhere, I heard Brynden’s death rattle as he drew his last breath, writhing on the ground in agony as he died right before our eyes. Oswald and I reached him at the same time. I could feel tears running tracks down my face as Oswald tried to bring life back into his body.
 
It was horrible.
 
A dark, crackling energy began swirling around Brynden’s body, partially obscuring it from view, but not enough that I couldn’t make out the flesh melting off of his bones, leaving only a skeletal form in his tattered robes. A small glass spider appeared next to him, emanating an ominous red glow. His phylactery. Brynden had accepted lichdom.
 
I could feel my heart breaking into a thousand pieces. The look on Oswald’s face made it even worse, as he grabbed the spider phylactery and tucked it into his breastplate. “Brynden” sat up. He had legs again, but I don’t see how the trade was worth it. For, if what I’ve heard is correct, he will no longer be himself… not in the slightest. Liches only care about the gathering of information and pursuit of knowledge - at the expense of everything they once were. I cannot believe that Brynden would have made this trade if he hadn’t taken the blast to his legs… but on the other hand… why would he have accepted something so terrible, sought it out, even, if he hadn’t wanted the darkness to claim him?
 
I just stood there, staring at him in shock, tears running down my face. He mocked me when he looked and saw my distress. Brynden has long been an ass to me, but not like that… it is as though Brynden Chandler is dead… as dead as his sister. But his is made even worse because it is purely of his own making.
 
I felt Eerika’s arm come around me then, turning me away from the others as she said “let’s leave this place.”
I completely agreed with her, so I let her lead me out of the chamber and across to where Trevor was still studying the guardian. He got us past the guardian, I don’t even recall how… my mind was in a haze.
 
We made our way back into the lich’s bedchamber, Trevor’s arm wrapped around my shoulders. He didn’t even ask what had happened. I don’t think he needed to at that point…
 
I curled into myself on the bed when we reached the chamber. Trevor kept his arms around me for a while - which I was more grateful for than I care to think about. It was embarrassing, but I do not care. Brynden is gone. Elaine is gone. Erkki is gone. Adrastos is gone. Even Izek Strazni, who scared me on a level that not many men have, is still gone - and with him, any foolish hope of getting through to him and knowing him as a brother… I don’t know how much more of this I can take…
 
Trevor picked up one of the books in the library, and swept some of the lich dust from the chair into it. Then, he tossed it into the center of the teleportation circle, and watched it disappear.
 
I didn’t have much time to wallow in my thoughts, for the others came back into the room. Brynden and Oswald were eyeing each other suspiciously. Elaine looked around and said something about us needing to find out where the teleportation circle leads, so what did she do? She fucking stepped right into it!
 
Not even a minute later, Trevor told us that he had just received a message from Elaine. She was in Strahd’s castle, and the book that Trevor had sent through was there also. So, this circle was bound to Strahd’s dining hall, apparently. Fuck.
 
Brynden said we needed to go after her. I confronted him then, there was no way that we were ready to go face Strahd at that very moment. He would kill all of us. Brynden began ranting about how we can’t just leave her there to die. And while, my initial reaction was to agree with him, there was no way we would be able to accomplish anything if we did follow her. We would be setting ourselves up for Strahd to just pick off and torture and kill however and whenever he felt like it. We needed a plan, not to rush headlong into an incredibly pissed off Strahd’s personal stronghold without proper preparations. We would die without standing the slightest chance of even trying to kill him.
 
Brynden shot me another hate-filled look and said that he didn’t care what any of us thought, he wasn’t going to leave his sister there to die. Then he, too, stepped into the teleportation circle and disappeared.
 
It took the rest of us a few minutes to gather our thoughts and make a plan for going forward. We agreed to take a rest there, in the lich’s bedchamber yet again, and then I suggested that we make our way back to the room that the Vistani had barricaded, and ask them how they planned to get past the roc for their return trip down the mountain.
 
I passed out hard then. Fortunately, it was a dreamless sleep, until we were ready to move on. We made our way back down to the room where we had met the Vistani the previous day.
 
I knocked on the door but received no answer. I called to them, and received no answer. Trevor moved in front of me and looked through the small window. Whatever he saw must have been bad, because he motioned to Oswald, who immediately kicked down the door - which exploded inwards.
 
The entire room was covered in blood. I felt the bile rising in my throat as I recognized the remains of the three Vistani men who had been holed up in here. It looked like they had been torn apart by claws, and their bodies (according to the low voices of Trevor and Kasimir), looked like they had been bitten by human teeth… as we explored the room further, me staying as close to Trevor and Kasimir as I could, they looked up just in time to see the mutated monstrosity that had once been the Vistani woman leap down from the rafters. She looked like some horrible pairing between a human and a spider… she snarled and came after us, but fortunately the guys cut her down before she got too close.
 
She was truly horrifying, but pathetic at the same time. What weakness of will would make one of the Vistani turn against her own companions, other Vistani, and slaughter them like that. She didn’t even deserve the name or belonging that her people had given her…
 
We looked around the room, and I collected a bit of their jewelry and baubles to take with me, just in case we come across their families at some point.
 
The others all began discussing our plans to get out of the temple… I turned to Kasimir and asked him how many people he can cast his flying spell on. He knew what I was thinking, because he said he can cast it on three people… so he would cast it on himself, Trevor and Oswald. Oswald is strong enough to carry Eerika, and Trevor could carry me.
 
We made out way out to the side of the mountain. Trevor said that the roc was perched on one of the mountain outcroppings, apparently waiting for us to emerge. Oswald did something to distract the roc, and we leapt off the side of the mountain.
 
Trevor and Kasimir took the lead when we made it to the foot of the mountain. Fortunately, the slow fall down was uneventful, and Kasimir’s enchanted armor kept the mists parted around us. We made it to the road a short while later, and began our trek towards Castle Ravenloft.
 
A couple hours later, we came upon a familiar wagon… Ezmerelda was driving, with Blinsky the tiger sitting contentedly by her side.
 
So, now we are in Ezmerelda’s fortified wagon once again, heading towards Castle Ravenloft and what is likely to be the last confrontation of our lives...