OOC: Drop a Religion/Arcana check on me. However, from the raw magnitude of him, you’d definitely know that this is some form of Celestial.

Quote from JcAndD >>

“You presume much! I am no Barovian and I will not be lectured by you, mortal!!” With that, the Abbot’s form explodes in a corona of light. As the blazing Radiance condenses, the Abbot’s priestly vestiments have been cast aside. An imposing figure with great white wings, eerily pale skin, and burning white eyes is revealed. “I do not fear, Strahd! I have sacrificed everything to save this land, and I will sacrifice much more if it means it’s salvation.“ 

Arcana: 19

Viorela is steaming outside, but eavesdropping. She hoped her allies could convince him better than she, but with the way he speaks, she worries heavily about this man's intentions. He sounds clouded and self-righteous, in her humble opinion. Viorela will peek at the scene from outside. She will use her Divine Sense to grasp the situation, wondering if the wings are for show or not.

Quote from Ivanchina >>

 

Quote from JcAndD >>

“You presume much! I am no Barovian and I will not be lectured by you, mortal!!” With that, the Abbot’s form explodes in a corona of light. As the blazing Radiance condenses, the Abbot’s priestly vestiments have been cast aside. An imposing figure with great white wings, eerily pale skin, and burning white eyes is revealed. “I do not fear, Strahd! I have sacrificed everything to save this land, and I will sacrifice much more if it means it’s salvation.“ 

 

Adanmar Windblood

"My companion is right Abbot! Strahd will be not removed from this land by.....love.....and....in case, he already has his favored lady to pester, your.....subject, is more similar to one of his spawn than a real woman...but tell me..what you sacrificed, Abbot? What you would sacrifice, precisely?"

The Revenant dislikes his foolishness and clearly his last words had set some bells ringing.

 

((OOC: sorry guys, I know I am less active than usual, unfortunately, it is a hard time for me nowadays but I'll do my best)) 

Quote from Madclergy >>

Arcana: 5

 

Quote from LaRue >>

Viorela is steaming outside, but eavesdropping. She hoped her allies could convince him better than she, but with the way he speaks, she worries heavily about this man's intentions. He sounds clouded and self-righteous, in her humble opinion. Viorela will peek at the scene from outside. She will use her Divine Sense to grasp the situation, wondering if the wings are for show or not.

Elwarith instinctively flips his hood up over his head to partially block out the light and preserve his vision from the sudden burst of brilliance coming from the Abbot and draws the arrow back he was holding, ready to strike should this encounter suddenly become hazardous to ones health.

"How long have you been here...how many chances have you been afforded by the Morning Lord to 'save' Strahd.  Yet here you are, trapped like the rest of us.  We ARE going to rid this land of Strahd and return home, you can choose to stand with us, or stand aside and let us continue our business while you hide here with your pets."

(OOC - I'm readying an action in case he attacks, but I'm also attempting to diffuse this situation without needless bloodshed *I'm not getting paid to kill him so why waste the effort hehe* perhaps even convince him to join our cause which is why we came here seeking allies.)

Drop another Persuasion on him!

[Persuasion: 8]

The Abbot turns to you, “No... no... I have been saving people! I have been doing good. I haven’t been hiding... I have been preserving the memory of Markovia, just as the Morninglord asked. I... I was going to... attack Krezk if they didn’t do what I wanted? No. No! I had a reason! I did...” By this point, the Abbot’s light has died down, and the vestiments have returned. He appears human once more. He seems to be arguing with himself more than you, “Strahd was vulnerable with me. He was telling the truth. I know! I can’t be tricked. I am incorruptible...” The Abbot turns his back to you all, “All of you... get out. I do not wish to see you near this abbey. Otto, Zygfrek, escort them away from here.”

With that, the Abbot and Visilka both return into the abbey. The bells ring silent, and even the mongrelfolk hold their tongues. It almost as if the abbey itself mournfully contemplates what has happened over the centuries.

"Well that could have gone a lot worse." and he lowers his bow.

Davmorn nods, “Aye, coulda. Handled it well, lad.”

Elwarith nods at the dwarf.

"Should we just accept Strahd's invitation....or does anyone have other suggestions for allies?"

(OOC - where did we leave Ireena? was she of any use in our fight against Strahd? Or did we just escort her someplace to keep her out of his reach? )

You recall that you left her in the town of Vallaki, under the safety of the newly hallowed church with Father Lucien. You destroyed the vampiric spawn that planned to destroy the town. It was primarily so that Strahd could not turn her. 

Viorela's grip on her whip is quite tight. She leans into the group and whispers.

"Did you not hear the so-called abbot? He said he would destroy Krezk. He is clearly unhinged, and think of the poor girl..." There is a glimmer of dogged determination in her eyes as she says, very carefully, "This abbot is a monster himself. Where and how did he acquire that girl? Did you see the stitches on her? We cannot turn our backs on this. He may be an angel, but he is no different from the devil himself."

"Calm yourself Viorela, that is no girl any longer.  I believe she is a construct, a golem of his design if I had to wager a guess, in an attempt to get Strahd to fall in love with her.  Sewn together from several girls and then reanimated in to a shadow of their former selves."

"Nonetheless, that is horrifying. Who is to say he didn't slaughter those girls and took the favourable parts in the aftermath..." She stares him down. "Perhaps you can try to rally the people of Krezk to our cause... And I will take care of the abbot myself."

Bry had found a place to lean while the grown folks were talking, now everything had died down and he was both sad and amused. He wondered how much power the Abbot had. "I am all for walking in the devils front door..." 

Kasimir, who looks only slightly less undead than Adanmar (the literal undead), nods, “I agree, Bry. Now is the time for action. Every second that we delay is another chance for him to ambush us. If he, or Rahadin, or any of his ‘pets,’ get to us, then we risk everything.” 

However, Davmorn interjects, “Aye, but I’ve nearly died to the hellspawn. Adanmar died because he sic’d bats on us. If we walk in without getting properly prepared, then we’re as good as dead. However, I think our next step is to find the last artifacts. Unfortunately, those are inside the castle. I suppose the real question isn’t if we face Strahd, it’s how we’re gonna face him. How do we get in?“

"There is always a way in if you look hard enough, just depends on what you are willing to go through.  Once to get to a pasha, I crawled through feces and other refuse I would rather not talk about, to enter his palace."

Kasimir squints, “Right... Elwarith makes a point, a strange point, but a good point. I could provide an unconventional approach by casting Fly on you all, three and then two. It would allow you to avoid a large portion of the castle. However, it may take me out of the fight.”