The Cat on the Cold Frosty Lawn

After leaving the barn we gathered Zarruk and made our return to Egert's house. We caught Zarruk up on what happened while investigating the barn. Mirielle was still out cold. She does not appear to be sick fortunately, but it still worries me. The vampire was certainly not bluffing about wanting to turn her into another undead minion, but I worry that they might have placed some spell or curse that is already beginning the process. If she is not recovered by tomorrow I may be forced to seek aid from the temple of Silvanus we passed in the Churches. Still frustrated with my choices during that conversation I went outside and let out some frustration on one of the splitting stumps by the house. I got carried away and woke Zarruk. He seemed sympathetic, and tried to encourage me, but the failing is still fresh in my mind. I am glad of his words though.
During the night Dru began tossing and turning, and eventually fell off of the couch and began crawling on the floor in his sleep. I tried to wake him, and he seemed to come to briefly and said something like "I'm coming" or "Where are you?" before falling asleep again. After that he was still, though, and Zarruk and I moved him back onto the couch for the night. Dreams are strange things, and may carry many meanings. While I had it on my mind I told Zarruk of the dream I had of Darneska a few nights ago, going to see his "Mother". I don't know if it has any significance or not, but I would rather tell someone before I lose control again and it is forgotten.
The next morning it was cold outside, with a hint of frost on the ground. Mirielle was still unconscious, so that's not good. I decided to give her a little more time, and since there was still no food in the house we went down to the river close by to try to get some fish. Dru used his nature abilities to convince the fish to jump into the net, and we caught around 20. I was impressed; a very practical use of a seemingly superfluous spell. As we were about to head back the tabaxi Descartes showed up. We obviously had to catch him up on a few things, from meeting the sisters to the demon and the Lovelocks to finding out what I am. Fortunately he took it all in stride. It seems from what he said that Bevil has been withholding some information from us however, or at least not letting us know the extent of the dangers we are faced with. Whether this is intentional, or even nefarious, on Bevil's part I'm not sure, but it does not help me trust him any more. Descartes filled us in on some of the information we were missing.
The vampire Lilith is actually a demon lord named Loth. She created something called the demon web pits in the Abyss, where she usually resides. She also created or turned several individuals to become her family; these include her husband Damon, the two daughters we killed, and Darneska (confirming my suspicion that there was a connection). Because they are demons taking the form of vampires, it is unlikely that we permanently killed Jillia and Camilla. They probably returned to their natural plane to recover and reform.
Loth has been fighting against the Splinters and their predecessors (the Protectors of the Tree of Life) for years. She is believed to be in league with the three gods Bane, Merkyl, and Baal, and likely came up with the plan for them to steal the Tablets of Fate from Iou, the Hidden One. She longs for power and has been called the Weaver of Chaos. Her threat to turn Mirielle probably comes from greed to have more followers than actually replace any daughters, since our pitiful weapons could not permanently kill Jillia or Camilla. Her son Darneska is the leader of this Blue Flame cult. The blue fire is a calling card of sorts, signalling where they intend to strike. Descartes mentioned that Darneska followed a group called the Changrian; I may need to ask for more details about this later and find out who they are and if they would be friend or foe to us.
I showed a drawing of the symbol we found in the House of Ataraxia to Descartes, and he recognized it, but said little about its significance. Apparently to his knowledge Father Briar and his followers are not directly connected to Loth or the Blue Flame. Briar was a follower of Bane though, and it may be worth our while to find him and see if he has any information on where his god may have hidden these tablets. But for the time being he is more of a rogue force than a direct threat.
Dru understandably began to question what we could hope to accomplish against such odds. Descartes gave some high worded speech about duty and hope, which seemed to restore Dru's resolve to fight these beings. But after my mistake last night, I am not so sure how involved I should be now. I have my own plans and goals. I am reluctant to risk my life fighting one demon lord when I still have a reckoning to make with another. Descartes spoke of the greater good, and fighting for unselfish motives. If he only knew. However, our goals may align more than he thinks. In order to take down this Loth creature and her minions, we are going to have to become stronger and gain weapons that will actually hurt her. And if I can injure one demon, why not another?