Love Conquers All

Disclaimer: This includes spoilers for Curse of Strahd so don’t read if you don’t want to know.

Upon waking, Mordenkainen rushed us out of his home saying we needed to get to Krezk immediately and teleported us there. Now that we had spent some time speaking with Irina and in her company we’d noticed that there was a special connection between her and our Half-Orc Barbarian, Malachi. They seemed to know each other but didn’t understand what that meant. Keep that in mind for later. We appeared right outside the gates of Krezk and asked for entry. The soldiers said we must have something to offer to be welcomed in. We didn’t have much except the barrel of booze we got from turning in the missing goods back in Valaki. So we offered that up and they were so happy! Since the brewery had been attacked there had been no shipments to the town so they were in desperate need of alcohol. We gave it up and were allowed in. 

One of the soldiers had left while we were speaking to the guard and came back as we were entering letting us know that the Mayor had invited us to his home. We agreed and headed there immediately. Dmitri Krezkov, the Mayor, greets us and we sit down for a meal. During the meal he explained how the town worked. The true leader was the Abott who took care of the Abbey of St. Markova at the top of a hill toward the back of town. He protected the town and only asked that all people be good to one another. He left the day to day stuff to the Mayor. There was also the Bellview family that took care of the grounds of the Abbey. He let us know that the town was protected by the Hallowed Spell. It really was protected from Strahd! There was also no pervasive fog here as there was in the rest of this world. Dmitri took this chance to invite us to the Mayor’s Ball that was held every year. We accepted and finished dinner. 

Once we finished the Mayor offered us rooms in his tavern. Yes he was also the only tavern in town. It was pretty small. We asked to explore the town and were told that the Abbey was off limits but we were welcome to go to their small lake. It housed a shrine of White Sun, for the Morninglord. We went to check it out and Irina and Malachi stepped into it as if in a trance. When they held hands in the center a bright light shone out and above them appeared the spirits of Tatiana and her love Sergei. They thanked us for bringing them together for even a short time and they kissed. As they were rejoicing, there was a loud thundering and a cry of outrage. It seemed Strahd had been watching somehow and saw them be reunited. A large bolt of lightning struck down toward the pair. We thought they would be killed but the lightning dissipated before reaching them, leaving them safe. The Hallowed Spell did work! Even Strahd couldn’t reach here.

Sergei began to explain how he came to be inside Malachi. When Strahd found a path to immortality he had to kill someone dear to him to gain his prize and Tatiani as well. He killed Sergei but Tatiana found out and killed herself. With her gone the full pact couldn’t be completed so one of the dark forces involved froze Barovia in it’s own bubble and trapped all the souls inside. The idea was that Tatiana would be reborn and then Strahd would get his prize completing the pact. Through the many years there were reincarnations of Tatiana and all of them died before Strahd could get his prize. Irina was the current incarnation. 

Since Sergei had been murdered before the land was sealed away, his soul made it out and was able to latch onto a wolf. The animal of his family. He traveled until the wolf was near death. It was then that he found an orc encampment that worshipped the wolf. They saw it as a good omen when the old wolf came up to a new-born half-orc and touched noses with him. When Malachi’s tribe was destroyed later that year the same wolf came back and saved Malachi taking him into the wilderness. When the old wolf died Sergei’s soul was transferred to Malachi for safe keeping. He was still searching for a way back in to save Tatiana. 

Sergei finished his story and asked us for one last chance to touch his beloved before we took on Strahd. Malachi and Irina agreed and the spirits disappeared into them. The two faced each other and kissed running their hands over each other’s face as if remembering every detail. Then the glow of their spirits faded from the two mortals and we were alone again. It was then that the bell started ringing at the top of the Abbey and soon after there was a loud cacophony of sound. It sounded like many barn animals baying into the night. After the bell stopped ringing the sounds also stopped. We were left bewildered and confused as we headed to our rooms for the night.