Amber Temple II

## Summary

As the party leaves Vallaki, Salem rejoins the party with red eyes. Talice wonders if the werewolves have been watching them but the rest of the group pays it no mind. He's introduced to Emil Toranescu while the group goes over ways to take down the pack leader.

Near the tower, the party finds that the wolf corpses are gone aside from a few skeletons. Krik then suggests that he could be a werewolf but everyone else is against that. However Krik presents a valid argument that he could take the leader one on one. Emil then bites Krik while making a wound with his hand axe. It turned out a full moon was that very night when Krik had to transform.

The party treks to the Werewolf Den until it becomes sunset. During the talk, Krik asks about what they're going to do afterwards. Warwick brings up the crimson sorrow. Sorin suggests helping the people out with the crimson sorrow and Talice agrees. Krik finds a nook that reveals a secret passage guarded by a raven. Krik, Salem and Sorin enter the cave first followed by Jade, Warwick, Ezmeralda and Talice. Warwick again states how this isn't a good idea as Talice helps the party get stealthy. Krik spots children in cages guarded by Emil's wife, Zuleika. Emil reunites with her and she's happy to see him. Apparently Strahd was here the previous day and told them that Emil was dead.

The group reveals themselves to her and Zuleika is surprised by Krik's size. Talice and Jade get distracted by the gold at the base of the statue of the Night Mother in the room. Zuleika warns them of the Night Mother's curse which makes Jade pull away while Talice tries to hide behind the statue but trips and falls into the treasure. Krik quickly picks her up while Warwick asks if he should have a safe word. He settles on the word Yeet. Jade tries to talk to the kids but it doesn't end well. Talice quickly charms the loudest kid while imbuing Krik with the endurance of a bear.

The howling of wolves alerts Emil to their arrival. He challenges the alpha of the pack, Kiril, only for him to say that Krik's not a werewolf. As if on cue, Krik gives the look of a werewolf but hangs onto his orc form. After a couple of blows, Kiril realizes that Krik has silver weapons. During the brutal fight, Warwick calms the kids down. After giving a bunch of menace to Kiril, he guillotine's the alpha and then transforms into a wolfen form. Everyone in the party minus Talice howls with him at his victory.

After the howling, Krik begins turning on the party. Salem, Talice and Jade quickly calm him down with their magic and he reverts to his half-orc form. Everyone bows to him as the pack leader, including Ezmeralda begrudgingly. His first order is to teach the wolf pack how to make an arch. He then asks if the kids want to be werewolves but they scream meaning no. The party then decides to return these kids to their rightful owners. None of them are named Arabelle though.

Krik suggests that the werewolves be like vigilantes helping the local people while Talice suggests that they bring the werewolves to Kresk Abbey. However Ezmeralda brings up Strahd's allies being everywhere so the Werewolf den is likely the best place for them. Krik then says that Strahd is no longer welcome in the den and that he wants to get the werewolves numbers up so they can fight Strahd properly. He also instructs the werewolves to drop the kids off at Krezk and the Village of Barovia while they take the kids missing from Vallaki. This gains the berserker spirit's approval.

Talice then interviews one of the werewolves, Larken, about what happened to her mother. She finds out that Miss Tewin is in Castle Ravenloft making Sorin upset. They spend the night in the den while learning some more history about Barovia.

They learn that before Strahd came the land of Barovia was home to two gods: the morninglord and the night mother. When Strahd came the two gods were separated leaving the night mother alone. The werewolves regularly give offerings to stave off her insanity. Warwick recognizes this night mother as the god that he worships. Sorin mentions that he worships the sun god.

Jade decides to talk to Talice but she isn't good at talking about their problems. Talice talks about how she lived in an underground city and always felt safe there. The one exception was gnomes. They kept them at bay until one day the defenses of the dark elves fell along with Talice's father. Jade suggests that Talice is blaming herself for things that aren't her fault. Talice retorts that she doesn't know how to heal either emotionally or magically. Jade sympathizes with her. As they head to bed, Warwick slips out to find the raven that was nearby. He spots it but heads back to bed.

The next morning, the party and werewolves split up to deliver the children. The party head back to Vallaki to deliver some of the children. As they do, they talk about thier next objectives. They decide to go to the Amber Temple over Argynvostholt. They pass by some human werewolves as well who bow to Krik. Jade asks Ezmeralda about possible mages to learn magic from. Ezmeralda brings up a mad mage that lives north of Lake Zarovich.

The party returns to the Blue Water Inn and pick up the urn and keg. As they hurry down the road, Jade accidentally steps in a bear trap. Warwick attempts to get her out but fails so Jade slaps him as Krik and Sorin get her out. The party stays in the guard house for the night. Warwick thinks about the raven from the werewolf den. Salem doesn't notice anything off and heads back downstairs with Warwick to sleep for the night.

The party returns to the Amber Temple the following morning. They peer through the crack in the wall to find that nobody has returned to the berserker's home. They wander over to the cathedral taking down the burning skulls in the hallway. The party is surprised and happy that Krik's water barrel plan actually worked. Ezmeralda then asks for a foot rub as a reward and Jade volunteered Warwick to do the job. The party then takes a short rest before getting ready to go in further.

## Notable Events

* Krik willingly becomes a werewolf
* Joshscorcher has a new method of doing culminated stealth in the Werewolf Den
* Emil is reunited with his wife Zuleika Toranescu.
* Krik helps Emil Toranescu by becoming the alpha of the wolf pack.
* Talice Tewin finds out that her mother was taken to Castle Ravenloft
* Warwick and Sorin's dieties are the Night Mother and Morninglord respectfully