Charred Journal Page (Van Richten)

A single page torn from a journal, scorched at the edges. Found on the floor of a locked barrel-topped wagon parked outside The Stone Tower (Lake Baratok) — beside a now-destroyed large map of Barovia. When Brother Moro triggered the wagon's booby trap, he reflexively clutched the page and carried it out of the explosion. It is the only item from the wagon that survived.

Contents (Read Aloud, Session 14)

The author identifies himself as a hunter of creatures of darkness — a man who has been named hero, sage, master, and hunter in various circles over more than three decades. He describes his calling as beginning in grief, becoming in time a bleak and tedious career, and culminating in the realization that he is the object of a Vistani curse that does not fall on him but on everyone around him.

He recounts the events that set the curse in motion:

• His son Erasmus was taken by the Vistani, who claimed him as compensation for a young man who died while the author was attempting to treat him
• Pursuing the caravan, he was beset by undead; a lich intervened, warded him against undead, and animated the dead Vistana to reveal the caravan's location
• He found the Vistani and threatened to unleash the zombie horde unless they returned his son; they told him Erasmus had been sold to a vampire named Baron Metus
• He set the zombies on the tribe; the leader cursed him before she died: "Live you always among monsters, and see everyone you love die beneath their claws."
• He later found his son Erasmus, made into a vampire; Erasmus begged to be freed; the author staked him

The author closes with the observation that he has found himself inexorably bound to an existence he never intended to survive, and that he must reveal the curse's nature so that others understand why those who travel with him die.

He does not name himself in this entry.

Threads

• Whose journal is this, and is it the same person whose wagon was parked at the tower?
• The name Baron Metus appears as the vampire who purchased Erasmus
• The lich who intervened is unnamed and never explained
• The curse — everyone he loves dies — may explain why this wagon was found alone, with no horses and no owner in sight
• The Vistani curse matches the structure of the curse already troubling Sable Burrowbane

First Found

Session 14 — The Stone Tower (Lake Baratok) wagon