"Elrod, P N - I, Strahd 2 - War Against Azalin e-txt" - читать интересную книгу автора (Elrod P N)

veins of cooling glass running out from the center where the heat had been very
great. As for the menЕ well, the eleven I had would have to suffice for my
needs; these fellows were quite beyond any use in the culinary sense. It was
probably for the better. The last thing I needed in my dungeons was some
wretched holy man working away at me with his foul prayers. I knew his sort: the
worse the conditions in which he found himself the greater power he would be
able to call forth.
A waste, but not one I would mourn over much. I could still find some use for
the dead ones as servants. Once I had recovered a bit and put the proper spells
into effect, the whole lot of them could walk themselves to Castle Ravenloft.
The living would be compelled down into the dungeons, and the dead to one of my
work areas where I could make a proper and permanent change in them so they
would be suitable guards.
Their path of travel would take them right through the village of Barovia at the
foot of the castle, a sight to cause the population some little stir. By this
would they know their lord was keeping the peace in the land and perhaps be
better inspired to maintain it themselves.
I put myself in order and retrieved the lot of them to commence the work, being
quite recovered now from the chanting attack. Before another hour passed, they
were all under my control and slowly marching west, even the one without the
headЧhe carried that in his lifeless handsЧand the three with blackened and
cracked skin. By dawn they would all be in their proper places, serving me in
such a way as they could never have otherwise hopedЧor remotely imaginedЧto
achieve.
***
An excerpt from the private commentary notebooks of Azalin, salvaged and
translated by Lord Strahd after the necromancer's disappearance in the year 579.
543 Barovian Calendar, Barovia
Here Von Zarovich exhibits a sampling of his ongoing obsession with the woman
Tatyana. She is his blind spot and is certainly something that might be
exploited in my intention to supplant him. He has noticed the pattern of her
continuing birth, death, and re-birth in his land, so the idea of introducing a
false Tatyana at a time inconvenient to him and advantageous to me is worth
consideration. The difficulty is finding a substitute convincing enough to
deceive him. Though gullible on some points, he is keenly attuned to the
workings of magic and sensitive to all manner of spellwork. A simple illusion
will not suffice. Something far more subtle is required for such a subterfuge to
succeed.
At her loss his wish for his own death, such as it is, should not be given much
credence. He acknowledges himself that it is but a temporary, passing state with
him. However, it is again a point that may be exploited should the timing be
correct. In these short periods he actually allows himself to be vulnerable. An
intelligent agent, by taking advantage of the moment, might then dispose of Von
Zarovich's troublesome presence altogether.
At this point in time in the writing Von Zarovich did not completely fathom the
nature of the plane of existence into which Barovia had slipped. He refers to
the misty boundary enclosing his land without really understanding it. I can
only assume that he was so distracted by his emotional ties to the woman that
his curiosity was atrophied in some way. Again, her distracting influence on him
seems to be encompassing. He has many weaknesses, but this one is the most