There is so much that has happened over the last day that I’m going to have to tackle this in parts. We are taking a break at the moment from the scariest encounter with a walking suit of armour. I’m still in a bit of shock because we thought there was someone inside it, but there wasn’t. It was really weird. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
Oh, I should also tell you that the others now know that I’m keeping a journal, which is great, but the saddest news is that Mr. Frostbeard was a bit overwhelmed by it all and has decided to go and get the 100 gold pieces from The Lady Morwen in Daggerford. So he left us. Before the suit of armour decided it didn’t like us, so he missed the action but not before the scene in the graveyard, but I’m getting ahead of myself again, so I should start with the meeting with Madam Ava.
You remember that we were going into the tent to meet Madam Ava. The tent was really gloomy, full of candles and braziers and smelly smoke, but not in a cheery way. Gorek, who is a warrior monk of the Morning Lord (and really tall) went into a bit of a trance and looked with his ‘inner sight’ as he called it to see if there was anything out to get us before we went in. He’s quite clever with that sort of stuff, but he couldn’t see anything, so we went in. Well, most of us. Mr. Frostbeard wanted to stay outside, so the rest of us went in and sat down in front of Madam Ava.
Lunae tried to grab a chair using vines and leaves that she said she could normally create out of the ground, but I think she was a bit shocked when the whip was made up of tiny bones. (Which she said afterwards never happens.) Anyway, when we all sat down the fabric of the tent closed around us and it was if we were somewhere else. I couldn’t hear anything from outside, not the horses, or the sound of the lake or anything. Then Madam Ava, who was old and covered in silk scarves and shawls addressed us in turn and said some weird things, like she had known us forever. She called me ‘Holly the ungrateful’ and said that I should have stayed at home. Which was a bit rude.
Madam Ava told us about how the Lord Strahd had turned into a great evil and a vampire and that he could turn other people into lesser beings and how she wanted our help to do something about it. We all looked at each other a bit nervously, because, well, I don’t know about the others, but I’m used to finding lost things and helping people when they’ve locked themselves out of their house. I don’t know anything about killing vampires. I think Madam Ava can read minds, because she said that we weren’t good enough to just go straight out and kill him, but we could learn how to if we went to find some ancient relics, (which I am quite good at,) and she would help us look for them.
The Paladin, Gorek, asked her about something called the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind, and it turned out that he was from these parts, somewhere up in the north west, so that might be helpful, and he had been looking for it for a while. Madam Ava got all serious and said it did match the description of something that had been delivered by a giant Raven. I got all excited and said that I had seen one of those on the road (I didn’t tell them about the platinum piece, but I think Madam Ava knew about that), but the others laughed at me a little bit, because they said that the raven that I had seen wasn’t that big.
Madam Ava then said she would read our fortunes with some Tarot cards and I think that was really important. I didn’t understand it all, but the cards said this.
One card was called ‘The Avenger’ and she said it meant we needed to learn about the history of someone she called ‘our enemy’. (I think she meant the Prince) and that he has hidden secrets in a dragon’s house. I wonder if it’s the same one who let me go?
Then she turned over another card which she called ‘The Illusionist’ and said that meant something about a holy symbol. And a man in a colourful wagon might help us. I wonder if that’s the raven symbol that Gorek is looking for. That would be nice.
The third card was something called a ‘Myrmidon’ which is an ancient warrior I think, before my time. And she said that meant a sword, or a weapon would be useful. (I could have told her that we have lots of weapons, but she was super serious, so I kept my mouth shut.) Anyway, this might be a magic weapon because wolves are guarding it near a lake. We might have to go and find that.
The fourth card was called ‘The Broken One’ and that was someone who might help us in battle. I think he’s a cleric, but it sounds like he might be a bit mad. I’ll keep my eye out for a crazy priest. (Not Bastion, I like him, he wants to help people.)
And then the last card was called ‘The Horseman’ And that was definitely about Strahd. She said that he is a creature of darkness, and he must go back to a place of death. Which is a bit creepy.
I think she was telling us what we need to do, so I made a list.
- Learn about Strahd’s history. (In a dragon’s house?)
- Get a holy symbol from a man in a caravan.
- Find a magic sword from some wolves by a lake.
- Find a crazy priest that will help us in a battle.
- Remember that Strahd is nasty and powerful and needs to go back to a place of death. (I don’t really understand that one, but it seemed important.)
So then she was finished with her cards, and I asked her about the Windmill and she wanted to know how I knew about it and I said I had heard someone talking about it and she got mad at me for listening to other people talking and said it was an evil place and I said I knew that, but she got more mad and I didn’t ask her about the villagers like I wanted to. I did ask about the statues with their heads cut off, but she said that they had been like that for ever.
Anyway, then she called for Stanomir who came into the tent and asked him to draw a map for us, which he did and as soon as he came in the tent felt nicer and I could hear noises from outside again.
So then we had to decide what to do, so we all decided to go to the village and see if there was anything there that would help us and maybe a room for the night, because she said that we shouldn’t be out after dark. That’s when Mr. Frostbeard started talking about going back to Daggerford.
The others are rested after fighting the suit of armour now, I’m going to have to finish this up later, but there’s loads of stuff to tell you about. I’ll finish this off once we’re out of this house.
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