Lady Wachter insisted that she had no knowledge of the ancient journal found in the locked box containing the bones of her family's long-dead enemy. She wasn't even certain of the name of the man sealed away in her closet, only that he had been an enemy of Lord Strahd and of her family generations ago. With some difficulty, we were able to make out the first pages of the journal, which proved to belong to Lord Strahd, himself. Time had not been kind to the pages of the book, making it difficult to read much of it. Doru has been spending his nights not on watch attempting to clean up the pages a little better so that we can inspect the writing more easily for clues as to what we are supposed to learn from its contents. It's our best guess that the book was the item that Madame Eva had alluded to in her card reading, but we haven't yet been able to translate more of the archaic language yet. Hopefully, Doru's efforts will simplify that matter soon enough.

With instructions to head south, we followed the Old Svalich Road out of Vallaki until a narrow path, hardly what one would even call a "road" branched off southwardly along the Luna River. Overgrowth from the encroaching wilderness made travel slow, but little was encountered along the way. At one point, we were passed by a group of robed figures headed in the direction of Vallaki. While they were what one might call "suspicious looking", it's the height of impoliteness to be judgmental based upon appearances. They identified themselves, somewhat hesitantly, as part of Lady Fiona's "Book Club" and were rather on edge that we knew anything of this secret group. At the cost of sounding judgmental, it seems apparent that they're not an innocuous group of sesquipedalian bibliophiles. Something to look into at a more opportune time.

Aside from our robed friends, the only thing to disturb our first day of travels was a skeletal rider dressed out in rusted, crumbling armor astride an undead horse. They were fairly handily dispatched. If it's not too prideful to say, we seem to be getting rather good at putting to rest the wandering denizens of the night that have yet been unable to move on from this world to the next. Other than this, our travels were largely uninterrupted until we came upon a large structure in the distance to the west. Only a few miles from the road, we collectively decided to make a small detour to investigate the stronghold standing tall enough to be seen through the dense foliage to the west.

Indeed, the manor house that we came upon was more fortress than mansion. Standing guard over the front entrance was the likeness of a giant silver dragon that once must have been a fabulous and foreboding sight to behold. Time had done this structure no favors, and it was clear that the fortress had been attacked and ransacked long ago. Much of the east wing had collapsed in on itself, and the roof sagged inwards allowing in the elements for centuries.

The motifs adorning the interior of the manor made it clear that this was once the stronghold of the Order of the Silver Dragon. We were able to find a few bits remaining in the keep retaining relief sculptures of silver dragons and practically every surface bore some iconography of the Order. Unfortunately, we also met several members of the Order that were not overly pleased by our presence in their stronghold. Despite my best efforts, many of these undead revenants were so fixated on revenge for their deaths that they could not be reasoned with. We were forced to put down several of the soldiers we came upon. Fortunately, revenants will rise again if their need for vengeance is not satisfied, so no permanent damage was done by stopping them at this time.

Two individuals stood out as being leaders of the Order:

We first came upon Sir Godfrey Gwilym, one of the knights of the Order. Of anyone we had yet come upon in the stronghold, he seemed to have somehow managed to retain the most of his humanity. Mire did an excellent job discussing the history of the Order and their current predicament with him. According to Sir Gwilym, he and the other knights had pledged their lives to Lord Argynvost and to protecting the land from all manner of evils. He and the others served under Vladimir Horngaard, the highest-ranking knight of Argynvost's Order and Sir Gwilym's ... lover? Life partner? Death had separated the two men for so many centuries that it was difficult to fully understand the nature of their relationship. As revenants, it was amazing that Sir Gwilym could remember that much of his former life. Many such undead can only recall their hatred for the one who killed them, forgetting even their own names in their grief.

Even so, between Sir Gwilym and Sir Horngaard were able to tell us some important information:

The fortress had been attacked by Strahd long, long ago, while he was still alive, before becoming a vampire. None of the revenants were sure of the cause of the fighting; however, Lord Strahd's journal speaks of a nation, the Tergs, invading his homeland. This led to a decades-long war between their people and to Strahd's invasion of the valley now known as the nation of Barovia. It's unclear if Argynvost was one of the original inhabitants of the Terg homeland or if he was brought to this place for some other reason. Regardless, it seems that either Lord Argynvost objected to Lord Strahd's victory in war, or Lord Strahd attacked Argynvostholt as part of his conquest of the land.

For Lord Strahd to be able to defeat both the forces of Argynvost and the dragon himself while still a mortal man in his father's army, I must confess, is quite impressive and speaks to Lord Strahd's prowess as a military leader.

Even so, the members of the Order have been distraught for centuries by their defeat at the hands of Lord Strahd, who not only slew their leader in battle, but had Lord Argynvost's head removed and shipped to Castle Ravenloft as a decoration. In fact, we could all recall having seen and commented on it when there previously: it's in Lady Volenta's hall of bones, hanging on the wall.

Two rather large problems presented themselves during our investigation of Argynvostholt. First, Sir Horngaard seems to have lost much of his mind over the centuries. Rather than behaving as a normal revenant, intent upon revenge against his killer, Sir Horngaard seems particularly adamant that Lord Strahd should be protected. It is his belief that as a vampire, Lord Strahd shall suffer eternally in this land. He has decided that his purpose on this earth is to ensure Lord Strahd's eternal damnation at the expense of his own soul and those of his followers in the Order. Like knights of Pharasma, this level of zealousness is nearly impossible to bring around. It was our hope that by rejoining Horngaard and Gwilym, perhaps the two souls will be able to find enough peace together that they can be reasoned with in the future. Alternatively, it was also suggested that the return of Argynvost's skull to the keep may be enough to allow their souls to find peace and move on.

Which brings us to the second problem, how to obtain the dragon skull? Lady Volenta seemed rather attached to it as a central piece bringing the décor of her room together. Also, there's certainly no way our group will ever have the funds to afford to buy something like that directly from Lord Strahd, leaving us with the possibility of trading goods or services. I must admit to having no clue what Lord Strahd may wish of us that would be a worthy trade. Perhaps he could be interested in one hundred excellently crafted but disturbingly creepy little dolls?

Before leaving the fortress, we were able to convince Horngaard to part with a particularly shiny bauble in his possession. He wore a medallion around his neck, which proved to be a rather powerful holy symbol of the Morninglord. Specifically, it seems to be crafted with the specific ability to cast natural sunlight, something this land hasn't seen in hundreds of years. It also possesses the ability to turn undead and to paralyze vampires, all three things that Doru requests we not do, even if we come across unfriendly vampires in our travels. While potentially beneficial, it does seem a very dangerous tool in this land. I feel safer with it remaining in our hands than being held by another, especially one like Sir Horngaard, who seems so intent upon harming others in his need for revenge.