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View Full Version : Journal Bragens Journal (Minor Curse of Stahd spoilers)



Jaxxen
2018-06-14, 01:15 PM
I am afraid. Not because of Strahd or any of the Demons we’ve faced so far, but because I am becoming one of them and thus I am afraid only because I am enjoying it. Lathander no longer speaks to me I’ve fallen from his grace. Where once a place of warmth and light was lies only a well of pitch black. However there is power in this darkness, it is seducing, enticing, and utterly corrupting. I continue to tell myself embracing this allows me to fight fire with fire, be the monster the darkness fears to cross in protection of the light. Is this the truth though or merely an excuse? We all lie to ourselves in the end tell it enough and it warps your perception of the truth.

Several weeks earlier………………….

I have begun questioning my heritage mother always said I was the light of her life. As I grew older I knew that the man who raised me unlikely to of been my sire, as I had none of the man’s features. I am sure that he knew this as well however he treated me as if I were his son. That was the matter until that fateful day I returned from morning devotion. It was a charnel house blood coating the walls body’s strewn across the floor blood pooling where they lay eyes locked open in horror. In the middle of the tavern owned by my father lay his corpse clutching the hilt of a large obsidian blade the point of which was lodged into my mother’s chest. All I knew was rage and hate at that moment and then blackness. I woke to Vani and the town guard shaking me to consciousness concern etched across her face. I knew she cared for me, but all I cared for was revenge. The next day I left the church and my life behind taking only the murder weapon with me and my mother’s necklace. There had to be more of an explanation to what happened. It was strange that I had a deep feeling of purpose and guidance, where this came from I couldn’t say. Standing at the gate leading to the outskirts of our village was Vani, she argued with me refusing to let me leave without thinking things through. She argued about what my goal was and how I intended to accomplish it alone. I however persisted in my cause only finally relenting to her accompanying me. It was nice to have someone I knew a comfort of sorts, and yet another thought wormed its way into my mind. A practical one of how she could be exploited.

Many days we travelled the country side seeking any information however as is often the case information appears in the most curious of forms. We were accosted on the road by what I thought were common brigands. Until one of them accused me of being a thief and grave robber. I had no idea what he meant and said as much. The brigand pointed to the sword strapped across my back telling me it was a knight’s weapon he had seen it’s like in a book from a merchant they had robbed. He demanded I hand it over or he and his boys would do unspeakable things to my tiny whore. Again rage and hate engulfed my consciousness quicker than my brain could process what happened my hand shot up and out blasted cackling purple and black arcane energies leaving a smoking crater where the brigand’s stomach had once been. The rest fled into the forest as the rage subsided I finally noticed the horrified look on Vani’s face. Quickly I mumbled something about having learned a trick from the town’s wizard and that I wasn’t fully in control of it yet. I do not think she believed me but she did believe that I did it to protect her only. I also told myself this lie to justify it to myself.

I found the book the man spoke of it was written in a language neither of us understood but there was indeed a picture of the very blade I carried with me. On the cover of the book was coat of arms neither of us had seen before but perhaps someone knew it. I had to hold out hope however tenuous as it was all we had to go on. Days came and went no one we crossed had ever seen the coat of arms on the book. We were far to the north before by happenstance we crossed an older man stopped along the road and letting a young woman and middle aged man out of his cart. The woman paid the wagon driver before he continued on his way the event had piqued my curiosity. Why did people pay for a ride to the middle of nowhere what was the purpose? Vani being who she was quickly greeted the pair standing on the road introducing herself and quickly launching into a conversation, I understood why as I hadn’t been the best of company during our trip. The pair stood in confusion as this Halfling girl bombarded them with questions before either of them could answer her began another series of inquiry. I moved to stand beside Vani interjecting myself into her steady stream of commentary, apologizing to the man and woman, assuring them it was just her way as a Priestess of Sune she loved meeting new people. I introduced myself and my companion and asked one question of my own the same I asked of anyone we met if they knew the symbol on my book I expected the same result. The young woman began to answer me before being cut off by the man asking where I had found such an artifact and if he could look at it. Taken aback I asked what he meant and was rewarded with my first morsel of information in weeks, the book belonged to the Zarovich family.

I loaned the book to the man allowing him to read through it praying to Lathander any more clues. Hours passed Vani chatted with the woman whose name I learned was Bara and that she was hired as an escort for the man named Balthazar. Darkness began to settle in with a fog so thick I could barely see more than 5 feet away from me. The man handed the book back to me and began to ramble on about some place called Raven loft and its history oblivious to the encroaching fogbank. Within minutes we were engulfed and I had lost sight of Balthazar who was less than a foot away from me. All of my senses seemed to shift and change the fog wasn’t just clouding my vision but my mind. I began to call out to my companions and was met with silence. Unsure of what was going on I turned around and began to walk in the opposite direction of where the fog came from in hopes to exit it. Until I tripped on something.