Session 48 - But I was just starting to enjoy that.

Denzel swears at the beast in Celestial and gets himself out of the death cloud that is slowly taking his friends, Gnarvick throws a ball of thunder energy into the cloud but the beast resists its effects.

When all hope seems lost Pallas rushes back down the hallway casting finger of death on the abomination in front of him to save he friends. The creature screams out in pain and the screaming comes to a sudden stop.

Snowball rushes into the death cloud and drags Baromar into the room with Grimdur, he heals them back to consciousness and they wait for the cloud of gas to dispel.

As they take a long rest Pallas explains that from his research he has discovered that the dark gifts require leading an evil life, that if they wish to take them into the world they have to become truly evil. 

The party ask Pallas what his plans are and he explains he plans to stay and acquire all the knowledge of the library. The party try to convince Pallas to leave with them and finish the fight with Strahd, Gnarvick telling him they cant do it without him, and Baromar explaining that Strahd must have a great deal of magical texts and that there is potentially more power to be had there, than what is in the library here. 

As they approach the entrance to leave, Exethanter the lich keeper of the temple confronts them. "You have acquired great power in this temple, but that power comes at a great cost" He goes on to explain that they are to required to be truly evil and if they do not the consequences are that the dark deities in the temple will hunt them down and bring them back, where they will be converted to Vampires and put in wooden crates to suffer for all eternity.

The party one by one relinquish the gifts they have gained in the temple, Exethanter taking them by touch and transferring them to an amber crystal.

As he relinquishes his power Gnarvick does a standing backflip, Denzel follows suit, Snowball plays a song which attracts a raised flaming eyebrow from the Lich. 

Baromar is last....he takes some convincing to give up the dark gifts. Exethanter reminds him of the eternity of suffering if he was to go so far as to share food with a starving child, or help and old person in need. He also tells Baromar that he is not convinced he is truly evil and will end up in a box. 

He thanks the party for their visit and they head down the mountain somber, and mourning the loss of their great powers. 

The party head to Vallaki for food and rest. Along the way they notice something strange, throughout their travel the feeling of being watched is gone. They reach out and dont find any consciousnesses following them as they had in the past. This is a very disconcerting feeling after it being so constant in Barovia.

They walk into the Bluewater Inn and Irwin drops what he was doing and rushes over to them. "Ismark has arranged passage for you to Barovia, Ireena has gone missing and he needs you there as soon as you can"

Irwin explains that the Coffin Makers Hearse is at their disposal and his boy will drive them there as soon as they are ready. Mulberry chugs several pints of mead and the others also woof down some food and wine. They first head to see Blinski who immediately as they enter the store starts a monologue of how Ireena missed her brother, was terrified something had happened, and how he couldn't stop her from leaving etc. Clearly Blinski is feeling some guilt over what had happened. 

They show Blinski the box and he confirms it was the one he made for Fiona, and also that there have been no sightings of her, her man servant or her sons for some time. He asks what they know about the contents and has no idea whose bones they are, but confirms that he Tome of Strahd is considered to hold knowledge of Strahds becoming a Vampire and is considered incredibly Valuable to him. 

They head back to the Bluewater Inn where Irwin has his Bo - Slavomir who is about 14-15 and looks terrified sitting atop the hearse in an oilskin traveling cloak.

The party get into the hearse finding space where they can, and Mulberry who is concerned for the boys safety offers (which he accepts) to cast Barkskin on him for protection. 

Snow ball offers to polymorph him into a T-Rex but they decide the horses and also for the sake of practicality that this is not helpful. 

They arrive at the Village of Barovia and head to the Burogmasters mansion, where they meet a panicked Ismark who ushers them inside and explains how Ireena never made it, how he needs to go to Ravenloft as he is sure she is there with Strahd and how he will be joining them to confront Strahd.