Week 12: Mad Mage to Mad House

**Week 12: Mad Mage to Mad House**
Year 735, Fourth Moon, Day 12 & 13

When we left off...

Following the Mad Mage around his Magnificent Mansion merely made you more mystified by his memory loss and mumbling.  Quintus watched him prepare spells while sleepwalking and Victor tossed the place looking for a spellbook, but all you really accomplished was a lackluster breakfast and a lot of arguing.  At the crux of the issue: nobody in the party felt confident that they could cure the Mad Mage with the currently available resources, and Nars insisted that you would not be bringing Victor along with you as you continued your journey through Barovia.  Victor further complicated matters by insisting that he would "stay with the Mad Mage," and got himself in a little trouble by colluding with the old nutter over his (definitely necromantic in parts) spellbook.

Finally, after a lot of debate, you more or less agreed to leave Victor with the Mad Mage while you continued looking for the clues in Madame Eva's initial card reading.  Nars cast a Water Walking ritual on the party and transformed himself into a Raven to speed the journey, arriving ahead of the group at The Blue Water Inn, where he transformed from a Raven into a person in front of a lot of paying customers.  The barkeep, alleged wereraven **Urwin Martikov**, was deeply upset by this, and beat Nars back into the street with a broom.

That started a whole new row, as Nars did not understand why Urwin reacted so strongly.  Clyde attempted to explain his perspective when he finally caught up again, and the entire conversation came to a clattering end when Quintus finally snapped. Everyone had to say one nice thing about the Roleplay, and then we picked back up after bio break.

Back on track, Ulfar and Clyde dutifully led the party down the Old Svallich Road toward Krezek.  On the road, you were passed by an enormous bird, which cast a long shadow over the road... but otherwise ignored you.  Moving as quickly as you could, you only just made it from Vallaki to **Krezk**by sundown.  Only to find that the Burgomasters of Krezk 1) knew you were coming and 2) weren't exactly sure they should be happy about it.  They threw down a copy of The Book, which Quintus collected, and Ulfar convinced them at last that they should allow you inside their town.

Nestled in a valley, Krezk lacked any kind of formal lodging or manor house.  The citizens, including **Burgomaster Dimitri Krezkov** and his wife**Anna Krezkova** live fairly self-contained and self-sufficient lives, but they never go to the Abbey... and, as a general rule, neither does anybody else.  They found you lodging with the locals in their various homes and hovels, and hosted a small dinner in your honor.  The food was simple but filling, and Clyde quickly recognized that the Burgomaster's house had something of an empty nest syndrome.  It turned out that this is because the last of their young children had just died from illness.  They are functionally the end of the Krezkov bloodline.

After Dinner, Nars spent his time trying to get to know and help the family hosting him. Meanwhile, Clyde journeyed to the dilapidated **Gazebo of The Morning Lord**, overlooking the sparkling waters of St. Markovia's holy spring.  By morning, Selgaard was also doing some manual labor along-side Nars while Ulfar gathered information (including that the Abbot is over 100 years old) and Clyde meditated on the dawn.  When Clyde went one step further and dipped his iron holy symbol into the pool, it began to rust about 10 minutes later.  The rust was incredibly disheartening to him, but Nars handed him some Green Dragon Bile and Ulfar passed along a knife in the hopse that it would clean back up again.  The rust scraped away to reveal what remained of the symbol had been transmuted into solid silver.

This change inspired Clyde to encourage Quintus to go into the holy waters, in the hopes of finally freeing him from the spectral axe of **Gruumsh**still haunting his hip.  Quintus went in armor and all, and after a lot of description about how fresh and drinkable the water was, cut us all some slack by drinking some.  Whether it did anything about the axe or not is uncertain, but he did try at least.

Finally, having eaten some breakfast and done some chores, it was time to ascend the mountain and visit the **Abby of St. Markovia** atop the nearby mountain.  Ulfar snuck in through the gate house, but the rest of you were noticed by the gate-keepers: a pair of mongrel-folk named **Otto**and **Zygfrek Belview**.  Desptie their monsterous appearance, they did go and fetch the Abbot for you when you asked.

For the rest of you, the Abbot arrived to welcome you! He was a handsome young man in a brown monk's cassock, with a painted wood holy symbol of the sun hanging around his neck.  He moved with the grace of a saint.  The Abbot showed you the Gardens, the Mad House (including a creature made of stitched-together flesh), and eventually led you through the inner courtyard, toward the Main Hall.  Meanwhile, Ulfar snuck through the shadows and peeked into a few windows, which may or may not prove interesting immediately after we start again tonight.

**Around Town...**

The creatures of the madhouse shatter the quiet with their cackles and whispered curses. Their stench is overpowering.