The Forgotten Lich
After encountering a few of the dark powers during the last session, the party continued their search of the Amber Temple, looking for any sign of Strahd’s affairs. Having already found a hidden door upstairs on the east wing of the temple, the party planned to search for a similar hidden door on the west wing. Heading upstairs to a small chamber, the player in the lead ran into a strange faceless obsidian statue, and immediately felt its magic try to draw them closer. Thankfully, they were able to resist the statue’s magic.
The next player who entered, however, was not as lucky, and felt compelled to kneel in front of the statue. Any attempt to pry this player away from the statue was met with ridiculously high acrobatics rolls to avoid being grappled. Finally, one of the party members who was not influenced by the statue cast shatter on the strange statue, sending fragments of obsidian flying, and freeing the player from its spell.
With this trap out of the way, the party searched the chamber, and found a hidden door just as they had done before in the other wing of the temple. Behind this hidden door, however, was not a staircase but a cozy little bed chamber. In the corner of the room, sitting on an ornate chair, was a skeletal figure wearing tattered wizard robes. The figure looked up, and greeted the party with its glowing red eyes:
“Do I know you?”
As the party introduced themselves, the skeletal figure grew more anxious, and explained that he had forgotten his name. Even more strange, he could not remember the reason he no longer knew his name. After getting pleasantries out of the way, it was clear the party had sought the Amber Temple for answers, and the skeletal wizard was more than happy to provide them. With a tap on his desk, the legs of the wizard’s table began to walk away, and the wall behind it opened to reveal a grand library.
The Amber Vault
The carefully organized bookshelves of the wizard’s library stretched impossibly high, well beyond what the players could see from the ground. Inside the library, the party found answers to many of the questions and loose threads they had gathered during the campaign. The wizard also explained the purpose of the Amber Temple, how it was built as a prison for the vestiges, and an archive for dark knowledge. However, the wizard did not know much about Strahd’s activities in the Amber Temple, only that Strahd has visited the vault underneath the library a few times recently. While the wizard was curious of Strahd’s motives, he confessed that he has not gone downstairs ever since he had forgotten his name, and for some reason had no intention of doing so any time soon.
Seeking the answers they came to the Amber Temple for, the party readied their weapons, and descended the golden spiral staircase down into the Amber Vault, where they found three amber prisons. These prisons were slightly bigger than the ones they had found previously, and in front of each of the prisons was a covered altar. Glancing inside each of the pieces of amber, the party discovered that only one of them seemed to have a wisp of darkness present, indicating that it was the only prison with a vestige trapped within.
Placing a hand to this amber prison, one of the players received a vision related to the vestige inside, and was mentally transported to a dreary graveyard that seemed to expand endlessly in all directions. This player was then offered the vestige’s gift, but declined it. Without any other vestiges to interact with, the party decided to uncover the altars in front of each prison. Unfortunately, the altar in front of the one filled prison had nothing on it. The second altar contained a book, quickly leafing through the pages the party found that someone had written dozens of names in it.
Leaving the book alone for now, the party uncovered the final altar, and revealed a preserved heart that was still gently beating. While the party discussed what to do next, the player who had kept the sunsword felt a growing sense of hatred for the heart on the altar. Sensing that the sentience within the sunsword had unfinished business, the player drove the broken blade into the heart, which bled and stopped beating. Drawing the blade from the heart, the party was blinded as a blade of pure radiance erupted from the hilt, and the sunsword was finally whole again. Knowing that the blade once belonged to Sergei, the party deduced that the heart must have been Strahds, and decided it would be best to flee before he arrives.
Leaving the Amber Temple
Having completed their goals, the party returned to the skeletal wizard upstairs to say goodbye before they made their way back to civilization. On their way out, the wizard offered to undo any of the pacts that the players formed with the dark powers while in the Amber Temple, and warned that he might not be strong enough to help them later on. Seeing the effects of the dark powers firsthand, all but one of the players who had accepted a dark gift took the wizard up on his offer, and their vestiges were resealed in the amber prisons.
Stepping out of the darkness of the Amber Temple, the players were shocked to find that the sky had turned to a deep shade of red. Knowing now that something bigger must have happened from their actions in the Amber Temple, the party wasted no time in starting their long trek back home. With the remaining hours of daylight, the party was able to make it back to the bridge on Tsolenka Pass, but off in the distance they saw a somewhat familiar sight. Parked on the other end of the bridge, seemingly waiting for them, was a black carriage.
As it was getting late, the party decided not to cross the bridge for now, and hoped that by doing so they could avoid alerting Strahd of their presence. Pulling a fair bit off the road, the party set up their magic hut, and rested for the night in relative warmth and safety. But 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!