Lessons from the Mists: Session 22 - The Abbey of Saint Markovia

Welcome back to Lessons from the Mists! This session, the heroes explore the Abbey of Saint Markovia and meet a stranger to Barovia that is more than he appears... Let's get started!

The Recap

Setting out from van Richten’s tower, the heroes arrive at Krezk after many hours of travel. Climbing high into the Balinok Mountains, the temperature drops significantly and the landscape gradually becomes dusted with snow. The town is surrounded by a 20 foot high wall of stone, the most fortified settlement they have seen thus far in Barovia. High above, atop a rocky escarpment, a bell tolls from the Abbey of St. Markovia.

The heroes are stopped at the gate by guards. Angvar and Mary Sue Ann proclaim that they have come from the Wizard of Wines and bring a shipment of wine from the Martikovs. One guard retrieves Dmitri Krezkov, who accepts them into his village. He informs them that though he is grateful, and abides by the laws of hospitality when Ylenia introduces herself as a noble, their town works together to survive. They will find no inn in the village, and must work to earn their stay. Dmitri invites them to his home for dinner.

The heroes are served a hearty stew by Dmitri’s wife, Anna, and they meet their child, a teenage boy named Ilya. Angvar asks Dmitri if there is anything that they can do to help around town, as they try to help out the people of Barovia as best they can. Dmitri tells him that over the last few nights, some sheep from the village’s pen have gone missing. No one can account for them. Anna steers the conversation into lighter topics, gleefully telling her guests that Ilya was raised from the dead by the Abbot. Mary Sue Ann asks if there is anyone in town magically inclined, and Anna tells her that the Abbot is the likeliest person. Meanwhile, Ilya stuffs his face full of food, commenting on how nice the Abbot is. Angvar asks Dmitri if he has seen a dwarf in town anytime in the last forty years, but Dmitri hasn’t seen any.

The heroes bed down for the night. The women stay in Dmitri’s home while the men take the barn. Kane is woken occasionally throughout the night at odd hours by the tolling of the bell at the abbey. Once, it was accompanied by distant, high pitched laughter. He tells Angvar the next morning about this, that he is uncomfortable with this town already.

The next morning, they meet a few people in town and explore. Mary Sue Ann visits a tailor with Ylenia and buys cold weather clothing for the group. There, the tailor tells them about the Abbot and his theory that it is Strahd in disguise. The Abbot beautiful young man that supposedly arrived over 100 years ago, and hasn’t aged a day. He sometimes comes into town to visit the shrine.

Ylenia finds the Shrine of the White Sun and feels a divine presence. Kane and Mary Sue Ann investigate and determine that the pool was blessed, and offers protection for those that drink from its waters. They make their way to the abbey to meet the Abbot.

When the heroes arrive, they are stopped outside by a pair of watchmen, hunched and bundled in cloaks. When Ylenia tells them they are here to see the Abbot, the watchmen bring the heroes through the abbey’s courtyard and into one of the wings. Mary Sue Ann notices tufts of gray fur sprouting from the hands of one of the watchmen. She tells Ylenia “Good luck”, and she notices the watchman has a yellow reptilian eye beneath the hood.

They enter the main hall of the abbey, and see inside a beautiful young man in a brown robe dancing to viol music that wafts down from above with a beautiful young woman - a woman that looks exactly like Ylenia. He is delighted to meet new visitors, and introduces himself as the Abbot. The Abbot offers healing for Angvar’s severed hand, but he denies it. He greets Ylenia as Tatyana, and all of the heroes are put off by this, and ask him who he is, why he called Ylenia Tatyana, and what he has come to Barovia for.

The Abbot speaks in obtuse language, dreamy in his speech, looking through the heroes rather than speaking to them, but he explains himself: he says he has come here from a far off land, a bright and shining city, and found this land in need of healing. The people are tormented by their ruler, who wallows in despair and sorrow. He learned that Strahd lost his lover, a woman named Tatyana, and concluded the way to help the people is to return Strahd’s love to him. However, Tatyana died many years ago, but if he can remake the woman, and restore Tatyana’s soul to her, he may present Tatyana to Strahd and heal his pain. He need not pursue this quest anymore, because Tatyana has returned all on her own, he says, gesturing at Ylenia.

Ylenia denies that she is Tatyana, and the Abbot is confused. He asks her many questions, but she denies all knowledge of what he proclaims. She has no desire to return to Strahd, he is a monster. The Abbot then tells them that she is simply missing her memories, and informs them of the Amber Temple atop Mount Ghakis. To get there, one must follow the south road from the Raven River Crossroads, through the Tsolenka Pass, and at the terminus of the road, the temple lies. He says that an old order maintained it, and trapped dark entities within. The Dark Powers, he calls them. Mary Sue Ann is curious if he knows anything about old gods that lived in Barovia, and he describes a trio of archfey called the Ladies Three he has heard of, but believes they are dead now.

Angvar is interested if he knows Izek Strazni, describes him and his similar appearance to his brother, Thraegar. The Abbot has no knowledge of Izek, but says there is a strange phenomenon in this land. People die, and years later, they seem to have returned, looking exactly like the person that died years ago. Ylenia thinks back to her family, who she looks nothing like.

Mary Sue Ann describes her affliction to the Abbot, where she disappears from their memory and senses, but he says that is less a disease and more of a curse. Curses leave black marks on the soul, and to do that, he must heal the soul - something he has not done before. He says he will try, but he requires her fingers. Kane becomes very suspicious of this man, and believes he is not human. He tells Ylenia, who uses Divine Sense, and glimpses the Abbot’s true form for but a moment - a shining, blue skinned angel.

Angvar is interested in the Abbot's earlier offer, but the Abbot requires Angvar’s strength to make this deal. Angvar asks if there is a way to take this deal with no drawbacks, but the Abbot does not work for free. Ylenia offers to investigate the Amber Temple and return to him with her lost memories, but requires his help in return - an augment to her abilities, but she does not want to look any different for Strahd. She makes a very good persuasion check, and the Abbot hears exactly what he wants from the exact person he wants to hear it from. He agrees, and brings her (with Angvar in tow) to the operating room. They briefly meet Clovin, the violist with a bear’s leg, a baby head covered in scales, goat’s horns, and a large lobster claw.

On the way, the Abbot ignores the screams of a handful of other patients of his - their legs replaced with frog’s legs. One man, whose face has been half-turned into a rat’s face, pleads for help with Angvar. Angvar tells Ylenia to keep the Abbot occupied and speaks to the man - who says he came to Barovia to free his god at the temple, he sacrificed all of them to make him king, he must get to the temple. He came here to be rid of a werewolf bite, but the Abbot turned him into a rat thing. Angvar notices an emblem on his shirt - the symbol of the Sundered Blades, the mercenary company Kane belonged to. Angvar demands to know where he came from - Faerun. Does he know Kane? The man responds by saying, “Kane lives?” He says his name is Arvali. Satisfied, Angvar tells him he is breaking him out of here.

Ylenia comes into the operating room and has second thoughts. She asks if there will be blood involved. The Abbot says yes, a lot of it. Instead, she wants some holy water for spell components. He agrees, and takes a walk with her to the Shrine of the White Sun to gather it.

Mary Sue Ann and Kane wait in the main hall with the lookalike of Ylenia. They determine this creature is a flesh golem. Mary Sue Ann asks Kane what it’s like to have a relationship with his god, if he has spoken to him or an avatar has revealed itself to him. Kane tells her it hasn’t happened to him, and believes that his powers are like being lent power, but only those that are faithful may be granted that privilege. This troubles Mary Sue Ann, who believes more and more that the presence that contacted her is a Dark Power. She suggests they rob the Abbot, and Kane agrees. Slinking into the wine cellar, they find a spell scroll in an empty wine bottle - a spell scroll of Heroes’ Feast. They take it, then go upstairs and speak to Clovin, who appears to be drunk. A humanoid shape lies underneath a black sheet on a nearby table, and Mary Sue Ann wants to know what it is. Clovin says it is not for her to touch - it is an experiment of the Abbot’s. Creeped out, they make their way into the courtyard, where Angvar was hiding with Arvali bundled in cold weather clothing.

Angvar tells Kane he has found a friend of his, but they need to leave now. Mary Sue Ann casts Invisibility on the man, and the three figures walk out of the grounds of the abbey, feeling like they are being watched.

And that’s where we left it!

So How Did the Session Go?

My players really enjoyed talking to the Abbot and I had a great time roleplaying him. I thought a lot about how an alien creature like an angel would interact with humans. His dreamlike dialogue with no real understanding of human morality was fascinating. He cares about big picture evil, but does not see any evil in the way he was treating the mongrel folk. He is also, in a word, mad.

I didn’t plant the seeds to show my players that the mongrel folk they met are NOT the only ones, and I have a sneaking suspicion they are going to blast the Abbot as soon as they find that out. They talked above table a lot about if they need to put this guy down, but I think they assumed that all of his evil was confined to these half dozen or so poor folks they saw, and not the twenty or thirty mongrelfolk that are in the madhouse.

This session was the first time that I brought up the Ladies Three. Of all the people here that know things but just don’t care about them, I think the Abbot is a solid way of conveying information about the Amber Temple, Ladies Three, Dark Powers, etc. The players are finally able to put together the big picture ideas of what is going on, and they really like that.

The Krezkov family was nice enough, but I think I could have done better with their roleplay. That just came down to me not reviewing them as characters before we played the session. I played Ilya as a comedic relief, shoving every bit of food he can get his hands on into his mouth (which foreshadows what he transforms into as a result of the Abbot, see MandyMod’s guides for details), and though Mary Sue Ann’s player smelled something fishy about that, nothing came of her questions. YET. 

I really enjoy that as gruff a person as Angvar is, the player is doing something that makes my life as a DM a breeze, and that is asking NPCs questions about potential trouble they can solve. I think it makes sense this late in the campaign that he has decided that these people need help, by and large, and they uniquely have the ability to solve it. Having a player ask “HEY. WHAT’S THE QUEST HERE?” in a way that doesn’t seem like it breaks the fiction saves my ass so much. There is adventure content around here, having a player bring it up makes the whole experience smooth as butter.

Next session, we’ll probably talk about this guy Arvali and what his deal is, what Kane’s connection to him is, and why he is here. Really excited to see that happen. My players also talked at the end of the session where they might go after they are done in Krezk, and all signs pointed to the Amber Temple, which is going to go just great for them if they handle it too early.

Until next time!