Exploring the freezing mountains is enough to cause anyone madness. We thought we found a stone obelisk, bearing a sigil reminiscent of the Order of the Silver Dragon from the Knight’s Lodge. Its inscription bears:

Beware the fury of the mountain’s daughters
follow the dragon’s gaze and stay within the path

We follow along the path the obelisk’s dragon sigil points to a series of further obelisks, each more difficult terrain than the last, until we come across a sigil of the Morning Lord aside a frozen waterfall. The child we rescued recognized it as the secret entrance to his Zora village, and he helped us receive a warmer welcome.

The villagers, rather simpler living than lower-altitude Barovians, were indifferent to our Strahd-slaying goals, as apparently his wrath doesn’t typically reach this far out. They warn us the Daughters of the Mountain are spirits in feminine form which drain the life of travellers. They seemed apprehensive of the Amber Temple, saying there are many dangerous beings inside, including tales of a Lich, but that they have a pilgrimmage route to it which new Chiefs must attempt.

Taking our leave, we find their road to the Temple hits a fortified stone bridge, with a lone figure standing on it: Rahadin, the Hand of Strahd, who bears a shocking visual (but not moral) resemblance to our shady elf Orrrs. We wonder once again if the two could’ve been kindred spirits in another life, or separate timelines of eachother, or if one might be the future self of our dear Orrrs.

Our attempts at parlay are met with volleys of bolts from the fortification, and as Rahadin advances on us, he vanishes. The arrows prove too much a flood for us to bear, so we retreat into the trees out of their range, carrying our wounded as best we can. Just as we patch up, Rahadin appears with a punging strike, and his angry prescence includes an aura of a thousand screams - seemingly his numerous victims. Sarandiel, of course, counters with her own softer Dissonant Whispers and Hideous Laughter (??), and after several exchanges of blows, Bran strikes him with an unexpectly shining sword, which somehow mends his wounds.

Dorvil Hastes Orrrs, and then decides to pace while teleporting back and forth for a bit to show off

The ROFL’ing evil elf proves an easier target, allowing our combined might to slay him - and, given his graces with Strahd, we burned the body, and stored the remaining bones off his plane in our extradimensional bag - just in case. We certainly have no desire to fight him again!

– Recompiled by Darkwalker Fen von Stoker
Zombie Cleric of the Moon (and non-evil lycanthropes)

Previous Chapter: Wolves of Mount Ghakis

Next Chapter: The Cave of Lying Shadows

Dramatis Personae

• B - Darkwalker Fen von Stoker, Zombie Cleric
• T - Bran von Stoker, Deathlock, Strahd’s Favoured
• N - Orrrs, Murderhobo, Sensei to Misha, Werewolf Alpha, Bearer of the Spear of Khevan
• N - Normal Hands Misha, spiderful sidekick
• M - Sarandiel, Shapeshifting culture vulture, Irena #3
• D - Dorvil the Blue, Artificer of Splendifourous Gadgets
• T - Gerggwen, Panic Fireballer and keeper of the cat Bonedaddy

With Guests

• Van Richten, aka Ricktavio, seasoned veteran of Monster Slaying, Loremaster