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579 Barovian Calendar, Darkon

Excerpt froreat risk by Lord Strand&039;s secret envoy, Dioti the Sly

I confess that I&039;m still disturbed by my lapse of memory over the time I spent in Mordent Had Von Zarovich not also been there I would discount the gap as part of the price to pay when experi nored I have concentrated the full force of ht upon the proble our conversation

Von Zarovich implied that he knew more than I did of the incident, but he is an accomplished liar On the other hand, he has an antic taste for hu that I would doubt him His is the sort of ht at the ruined ued had proved fateful indeed

Disconsolate and disgusted with my fate, I had entered the Mists When I came back to consciousness in one of the inner chambers of what I caht I had finally escaped Barovia Events soon proved this assumption correct but revealed I was still locked within the same plane that holds Barovia apart froated when I came to understand that this new land, Darkon, was entirely mine

The castle servants, the population, the whole governes h it&039;s always been so I have swiftly taken advantage of the opportunity and reinforced it to ly loyal to me There will be no more betrayals, for I root therow I have killed without hesitation as a warning to the others Those who remain I may rely upon to carry out their duties

Toward that end I have assembled a core of those ill act as extensions of my will From the ranks of the soldiers, from the halls of the nobility, even from the streets and back alleys of Il Aluk have I drawn theat They are my eyes and ears in Darkon and considerably more efficient than Von Zarovich&039;s unpredictable Vistani

The Kargat have proved theain as they move, secretly and silently, within the noble houses here seeking out disloyalty and paying betrayal with death I have rewarded them well and made them the commanders of the army that will soon take Barovia

At their head is General Vychen His goals are very like my own, but he prefers to remain within his own sphere of power and has no aed to e in him so that he would become a creature like Von Zarovich, his loyalty to me stayed constant This has not always been the case for others who have been likewise converted, but they have been dealt with and are no longer a threat

Vychen will be ainst Von Zarovich He has athered together an excellent staff of officers, yet wisely makes certain they are oath-bound to rows, but slowly, for there areto serve who must be made examples to the rest I could take Barovia now, but I will leave nothing to chance First I will asse force, then will they march into that detestable plot of mud and rock and destroy it and its lord

579 Barovian Calendar, Barovia I finished e and looked up at the pleased face of Dioti, who liked to think of himself as my best Vistani spy

"It is excellent, is it not Lord Strahd?" he asked "I enduredit to you, so it is ot in and out of Avernus without being killed or worse is noteworthy, but - " I held up the papers torn fro I did not already knohich et away"

His face fell "Then the Lord Strahd is not happy?"

I was as far froined but kept my expression neutral "My one kernel of hope is that Azalin&039;s agents are as efficient as you are"

Dioti took that as a corinned, and bowed low Aldrick Wachter, an annoyed look on his own features, stepped forward and jerked his head toward the study door, indicating to Dioti that his time had come to leave He did so with many more bows than was absolutely necessary

Aldrick turned to me "You should have him executed, my lord, he&039;s a fool"

"Azalin ht I cannot afford to waste even the fools"

"He&039;ll betray you, perhaps not purposely, but byof importance, and serves as a distraction to the enemy If Azalin thinks Dioti is the ainst hiet him and attend to this new map"

I spread the parchment over the broad table

"This river&039;slines I had reproduced fro every squarein the middle of a desert area?"

"It&039;s likely not there at all Azalin is casting illusions everywhere to h there is the possibility that he&039;s able to change the very features of the land itself" I could not discount such a possibility, that Darkon altered to reflect the moods of its lord as Barovia&039;s weather often matched my own

"How can we , but honestly curious, as ifDarkon

Since the day of that first skirmish with Azalin&039;s zoed in food production was pressed into military service The saer sons and daughters busy Many of my commanders were like Aldrick, drawn froive and take orders as befitted their stations of responsibility, but there were not enough of them Even with my dead servitors to bolster the ranks, I didn&039;t have a tenth of the force that Azalin would be able to raise

If I could trust the scraps of inforht (which I constantly confirmed by my other spies) and if what I saw inhis tih job of it Despite the fact that his influence with theht theh of his dead to carry out an invasion but held back from that action

Instead he kept them close to the frontier; as far as I could determine they were there to defend his side should I think to send anyone across