Exploring the Amber Temple
After fighting off the arcanaloth Neferon in the last session, the party was free to explore the Amber Temple. Having heard some noises coming upstairs in the east wing of the temple, the party decided to start their search there. Heading into the east wing, the party passed by a large hole leading to a room on the lower floor, inside this small dark room were three tall slabs of amber. The party took note of this potential shortcut, but decided to continue their search of the upstairs before beginning their search downstairs.
Next, the party entered into a brightly lit lecture hall, with several rows of long benches facing a black lectern. From behind the lectern, a pair of grimy hands shot up in surrender, and a shaky voice of a man cried out:
“Please don’t hurt me, I’ll give you everything! I’m so sorry for trespassing!”
Stepping out from behind the lectern was a poorly dressed human commoner, who introduced himself as Wilhelm. For some context, I am using one of MandyMod’s suggested changes to the Amber Temple found here, and modified the character Vilnius from a mage’s apprentice to a commoner, renaming him in the process.
Wilhelm explained that he made a pact with a dark power to cure a deadly illness he had contracted, and that he was tasked with freeing his new master, Fekre, from their amber vault. He went on to assure the party that he had come to the temple not to free his new master, but to renounce their pact. After some convincing, the party agreed to help the frightened Wilhelm reach the amber vault that contained his master.
Stepping out of the lecture room, the party continued down the hall, and their progress was immediately stopped by a large amber golem which seemed to be digging at a pile of rubble. The party sent Wilhelm back to his hiding place, while they snuck past the golem one by one. The chamber beyond the golem was nearly empty, containing only a few scattered candleholders and a smashed obsidian statue. Checking this room more thoroughly, a perceptive player was able to find a hidden door in one of the walls, behind this door was a stone staircase headed down into a room containing three more tall amber slabs, similar to the one they had found before.
The Amber Vaults
The party spotted a small strand of darkness inside each of the slabs of amber, a sign of the dark power trapped within. A few players decided to commune with the trapped vestiges by placing a hand on the amber vault, and each of them were mentally transported to the vestige’s domain. Each of the vestiges had a unique vision, and an offering of power. After surprisingly little debate, three of my players stepped forward to accept these gifts. They gained fantastic powers: spider climbing, the power to return after death, even a permanent bump to their charisma, but they also gained new horrific physical features or changes to their personality. While these players seemed overall pleased with their exchange, the other members of the party decided to stay away from the vaults entirely.
With no clear way to progress further, the party decided to double back and return to Wilhem in the lecture hall. After explaining the amber vaults they found, Wilhelm pleaded for the party to take him to Fekre’s vault, which was downstairs behind a locked door. The party agreed, once at the door Wilhem pulled a small rat from his pocket, and held it to his ear, after listening for a few moments he spoke “Shalx” and the door swung open.
Wilhelm darted inside the room, and dropped to his knees in front of one of the vaults. He pleaded with it, and begged for Fekre to release him from their pact. The party watched as the small strand of darkness inside the vault began to move more violently and grow larger, as Wilhelm began to scream out in pain. Pulling at his shirt, Wilhelm revealed several large sores on his skin that seemed to burn at his skin, before finally he fell lifeless to the ground. As the players moved forward to investigate his body, a few rats scurried their way out of his clothing, while the dark strand of Fekre returned to its smaller and calmer state in the amber vault.
The Catacombs
Now armed with a healthy distrust of the dark powers, the party decided to ignore the amber vaults, and instead search for clues of Strahd’s activities in the Amber Temple. They found a few other doors downstairs, many of which were magically sealed, similarly to the door outside Fekre’s vault. In addition, they discovered a small seam in the southern wall that indicated a hidden door, and were able to force it open.
Behind this door was a large, dark chamber that reeked of death. Stepping inside, some unlit candles ignited, and revealed recesses in the walls which contained preserved bodies. The players heard a low groan, as several of these bodies began to move, and crawl out of their tombs. The party was feeling pretty confident, as they had easily taken on a few ghouls at a much lower level. As combat began, it was clear the ghouls were no match for the party, when suddenly, a swirling mass of tormented spirits shaped like the grim reaper emerged from inside the central pillar.
As the party fought off the ghouls, the gallows speaker drifted in and out of the walls, attacking the players using their own painful memories. One of the players was hit with their own painful memory of dealing with Izek, which leapt to other nearby players and damaged them as well. With many of the ghouls defeated, the party turned their attention to the gallows speaker, but found his movement quite difficult to deal with. Through some clever positioning, and readied actions, the players were able to fight off the gallows speaker and the catacombs fell silent again.
Inside the catacombs, the party found the entombed remains of the wizards that once lived at the Amber Temple, however it seemed that none of them were laid to rest with any of their valuables. Overcoming the smell of death in the room, the party decided it would be a safe place for a short rest, before finishing their search of the upstairs rooms. That’s all for now, I hope you found this write-up interesting, if you want to read more feel free to check out my other resources for Curse of Strahd!