Once freed of our magical illusion, there was some discussion about what should be done next. Little was known of our host of the marsh, and she did not seem inclined to present herself to us. Reading further in Lord Strahd's journal revealed some minor information about her: Baba Lysaga was a powerful witch of some sort that had taken up residence in the marshy ruins of Berez not long after the village was destroyed. She was powerful enough hundreds of years ago that Lord Strahd felt the need to keep a watchful eye on her. It seemed that she may have gained her power by traveling to the ancient temple of evil to the south.

Roderick again read from his Harrow deck to provide inspiration: the Theatre, the Winged Serpent, the Midwife, and the Mute Hag were drawn, suggesting that a show was put on for our benefit; however, knowledge and information will allow us to unravel poisonous secrets. Perhaps whoever put on the illusionary show for us doesn't want us learning the truth of the situation, because that will give us power over her?

Vasili helped by reading some of the more badly damaged passages in Lord Strahd's journal to us. He was able to confirm that Marina's story was the same as I saw in my vision at the monument. Lord Strahd referred to Baba Lysaga as someone "powerful and dangerous", one who had "communed with the Dark" and had unlocked the secrets of immortality by bathing in the blood of others. Lord Strahd also wrote of an ancient temple in the south, deep in the mountains where he had visited a few times, a place of "near limitless power."

It was agreed that perhaps clues to the witch and what she might want from us may lie within the temple. Furthermore, Vasili agreed to continue traveling with us, which ultimately proved to be an exceptionally beneficial thing for me. Besides taking great pleasure from his company, his skill as a swordsman and arcane caster were life-saving as a gargantuan Roc came upon us in the ruins of a mountain pass. As I was on a crumbling bridge crossing a yawning chasm, this immense raptor appeared from nowhere to grasp me in its talons. Mire and Ragnar fought bravely to fend it off as well, but it was heartwarming to see that Vasili considers us to be such friends worth endangering his life over. His magic finally felled the beast, and I flew safely back down to the others.

The roads were otherwise surprisingly quiet. We reached what was called "the Amber Temple", for reasons that became apparent once arriving. Virtually every inch was coated in amber or had amber statues adorning alcoves. Shortly after entering, we found a terrified man that had been trapped there for weeks. Vilnius was his name, and he had come with his master, Jakarion, to the temple. Unfortunately, Jakarion had been killed by one of the temple's guardians, leaving Vilnius trapped, injured, and unable to get back out on his own. He requested that we help him find his master's remains so that he could collect his spellbook and staff. Unfortunately, Vilnius proved to be an untrustworthy sort, intent on doing the group harm. He has gone to join his master once more and will not leave this mountain.

In the upper level of the temple, we found one of the temple guardians: a giant amber golem with the head of a wendigo. If golems had feelings, its final minutes of "life" were purely filled with humiliation. The druid greased the floor of the small room in which the guardian was standing, and when it went to do a murder, ZWOOP! The rest of its life was spent flailing on its back as it was hacked (slowly and painstakingly) to pieces. Try as it might, the poor creature was just unable to stand back up. The second such guardian, found on the ground floor hours later, was more difficult to take out, but ultimately fell to pieces as well. Of interest, a strange imp-like devil-monster of some sort was found lurking inside the faceless statue. I'm curious about what it was, as I've never seen anything like it. It also had a very curious magic robe and spellbook.

Overall, however, the temple of ancient evil was somewhat disappointing for a paladin of Abadar. The place was not originally intended to be an evil temple, that is, a temple to an evil god. It seems rather that it is some sort of repository for evil that has been imprisoned in amber sarcophagi. When these amber blocks were touched, each evil being within attempted to woo us with promises of ultimate power in exchange of "mere trifles". None would say what that trifling thing actually was, so I can only assume that it involves a portion of the soul. Some of the evil beings would not even speak to me, full stop. In fairness, I took great pleasure in touching various amber prisons and wishing them all a joyous and blessed day. No one agreed to take any of their gifts, although one or two seemed to have been tempting. There were, by interesting happenstance, several monsters of various sorts in the chambers holding the sarcophagi that were likely travelers that had accepted gifts in the past. One sarcophagus had been broken and crumbled away long ago, releasing its evil into the world.

Several nights were spent in the temple, during which time we continued reading Lord Strahd's journal. It was slow going, as the script was hundreds of years old, and some of the pages were damaged beyond legibility. Vasili helped where he could, more familiar with his master's flowing script than we were. Poor Doru especially seemed to have difficulty parsing out the lord's words, frequently ending his watch with a frustrated curse, handing the book off to someone else to read instead. While some of us dedicated time to reading, others set about organizing the possessions we found within the temple that needed to be taken with us when we left. There was an entire room filled with treasure, and a giant guardian golem that we were able to manipulate into carrying many of these artifacts out of the temple for us.

An especially interesting point within the temple was a gentleman who has been residing there for an untold length of time: Exethanter. He is a lich spoken of by Strahd in his journal; unfortunately, he has been struck by some sort of affliction causing his memory to fail him. He was polite and courteous, but unable to recall anything about himself. Sadly, none amongst us was able to help him. We must return at some point in the future. I do not believe that I shall ever have the talent with magic to be able to help him, but perhaps there are others within Barovia that are sufficiently skilled in the healing arts. Barovia is such an interesting place, where a vampire is lord of the land, and a lich is the gentleman host of an ancient temple!