Reunited with Cinna and Morgantha

After recuperating at the Tser pool encampment for the day, the subset of the lost travelers who had not stayed behind at the castle decided to head back to Vallaki. During the night before their travel, Xuza and Marillion both have unusual dreams. Marillion once again manages to almost get the shining thing on top of a tower before getting pulled into a catacomb that the group would later learn to be a part of the amber temple. Xuza, on the other hand, is led through the forest into the temple by their guardian angel. Xuzas companion leads him to Marillion and urges him to stop Marillion, while Marillion’s guardian urges him to come visit. Xuza and Marillion realize they are sharing the dream. Before they can investigate the temple too much, their track is cut short by some kind of a beholder-like creature, and both wake. Any doubts about the dream being real that Xuza might have had are immediately removed when they realize that the pitch blackness in Marillions eyes that Xuza had seen in the dream is still there.

In the morning, Darren and Bart also see Marillion’s new eyes for the first time but decide not to push the topic too much. The group sets off toward Vallaki and is reunited with Cinna, who is having some owl-bear-related issues at the western gates. The reunited lost travelers are easily able to dispatch the owlbears and continue traveling west. The rest of the group learns that Cinna has effectively run away from home and cut ties with her past. She did, however, grab a few souvenirs on the way out. In the spirit of new beginnings, Cinna also comes clean about her original mission: to spy on the other travelers, especially Darren, to figure out whether Darren would be a suitable person to take over the rule of Barovia.

Arriving at the mill, the party senses that something is off. The animals are restless, and one of the raven scouts flies down to them to report that Morgantha has returned. Cinna immediately barges into the mill, forgoing any hopes of an ambush. Morgantha is nowhere to be found, but the travelers come across her latest scheme; an eldritch monster summoned to hunt Geoff (who, luckily, had been left behind to take care of the horses). In ensuring aggression, the party again emerges victorious and complicates any further plans Morgantha might have by spending much of the rest of the day burning down the windmill.

Due to Morgantha’s potential still lurking, the group decides not to stay at the windmill and instead pushes to Vallaki. Traveling the last part through the woods, the group notices movement in the forests around them. Cinna even has to change into a bear to clear the roads of some debris, definitely left there by bandits. Direct hostilities are, however, avoided, and the group reaches Vallaki. The two guards at the gate seem much more interested in Ireena than before but avoid direct hostilities with the aspiring heroes of Barovia and instead let them in. The group, together with Irena, retire at the Blue Water Inn.