Episode 62: Fateful Choices

Taking shelter in the Library once again, the party debated which threat to address next and how, and struggled to piece together the mystery.

Delving deeper into the history of the temple itself, they uncovered that Exethanter discovered the otherworldly shard in the mountainside and built the temple around it as he founded the Fangs of the Veil. Fed by the arcane power of the King in Yellow, they expanded control over the Northeastern Coastal lands, and soon branched out to leverage the mounting tensions between Leddig Slatte and Ra’Onitia. As war blossomed between the two nations, The Fangs targeted Bannoch, crown prince of the Von Drovis dynasty and bent his ambition to the service of the Fangs. Building an elaborate castle in the Svalich Valley to the young prince’s specification, they lured the royal family to relocate to Barovia where the wizards could more strongly influence Bannoch.

But their manipulations backfired. As they leveraged Bannoch’s rivalry with his brother and drove him to fratricide as the final sacrifice to accept his “dark gift”, the newly forged vampire became drunk with blood lust and turned his back on the directions of the cabal. The fateful juncture of Bannoch’s new reign of terror in Barovia, coupled with four of the six Fangs away from the valley to unleash the undead hordes in the war coincided with the Raven Queen sealing off the valley, imprisoning Bannoch and strangling the connection to the King in Yellow.

But as they spent time delving into this history, they found themselves set upon once again by a pack of feral vampires that somehow found their way into the temple. Fighting back the blooddrinkers, they searched to no avail to find how Bannoch's forces could access the cold chambers of the Amber Temple.

Determining that the malfunctioning portal in the temple was the greatest threat, they prepared to risk unleashing powerful magic from the library upon the amber shard in hopes of destroying it. While Xarlamin made arcane preparations, Father Gus and Vin succumbed to curiosity and ventured off to seek the gifts promised by the strange spirits in the amber shards. Father Gus accepted the promise of flight from Tarakamedes the Grave Wyrm, and as the dark spirit entered his body he sprouted huge skeletal wings and learned the grave price of his new found ability. Vin sought the counsel of Zantras the kingmaker, and while his new dark companion improved his prodigious influence, it sparked an even deeper seated hunger for power and dominance.

With an Arance Disintegration scroll at the ready, the party was finally ready to assault the source of the dark portal. Taking position in the halls overlooking the main temple, the party found strategic advantage against the interdimensional horror that ripped through the rift as Xarlamin’s spell energized the surface tension between worlds. The strategy paid off, and they made short work of an otherwise terrifying foe. But as they rushed to the edge of the pit containing the amber shard, their exultation in discovering it reduced to dust was soon distracted by the catacomb doors behind them flying open to reveal two skeletal figures who shrieked out into the frigid temple:

***“How Dare You!”***