Heading back south just outside of Vallaki Van Helsing opts to skip visiting town and meet the party on the road south. Mulberry has some urgent Druid chores to attend to relocating some of her possessions to an alternate part of the forest.
After an amazing nights sleep in Vallaki, the party head to St.Andels church to hit father Lucian up for some holy water.
As the creation of holy water requires silver dust the party leave some silver coins with Father Lucian and one of the Bags of holding. They leave instructions with him to place some flasks of holy water in the bag once he has them ready....and not to look too closely at the other contents.
They head to the fur store and each buy cold weather gear, each paying the 10Gp except for Gnarvick who only had to pay 8. They hit the road and start to head south.
They meet Van Helsing about 30 mins on the road south and press on. As they get further from Vallaki the temperature drops steadily.
Along the way Van Helsing tells the party the history he knows of the Amber Temple. It was constructed by some Wizards a very long time ago as a place to hid Powerful magical knowledge. As the temple became more utilized its secrets were quickly uncovered in a desperate attempt to protect the contents the Wizards changed it to a temple to the god of Secrets. The chose the god Vecna who ultimately who was betrayed by a vampire, and became a God.
Van Helsing fills them in that the plan is to head to the Tsolenka pass and then head west to the trail up Mt.Ghakis.
The finally hit Tsolenka pass and see a stone bridge with arches at each end topped with statues of knights on horses with pole arms in combat. The bridge covers a span filled with mist and they hear the very faint sound of water far far below. As they approach they see a figure standing mid bridge cloaked with blazing red eyes set back in their hooded head. Van Helsing points out that the figure appears to be Strahd as he makes his way to the back of the group. Baromar approaches the mysterious figure who as soon as he is spoken to is consumed by the flames in his eyes and disappears into ash on the wind.
They transit the bridge and see an archway blocking the path. This arch has two demon statues on the top which seem to be watching their every move. The arch itself is blocked by a portcullis and green magical flames that the group determine will burn them if they try and touch them.
As they get closer to the gate the portcullis lifts up and then closes about a minute later, with the green flames blocking their way they decide to throw a rope up and climb over. First Baromar tries but gets some of the way before falling to the ground. Denzel attempts the climb second and manages to make it to the top. As he stands tall in triumph the Demon Statues come to live and start to attack him.
Fierce combat ensues during which Denzel has some kind of slip up in the nether regions, which distracts several of the combatants who then get stunned by the Demon Birds toxic spores. Van Helsing watches and does not participate in the combat, observing the capabilities of the party.
Once the foes are taken down, by flaming swords, acid balls and soiled trousers, the green flames faded and the party were able to traverse the gate. Some of the party members were poisoned by the demons, but Van Helsing was able to cure that with some holy water.
They Head to the path and make it to the Amber Temple entrance without further incident. Opting to camp out for the night before heading in, they take the oppertunity to check the Bag of Holding, and find that Father Lucian has indeed put two flasks of holy water in the bag, the second one has a small note attached that says "That is disgusting"
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