Chapter 08: February the 24th
General Summary
Greeting and salutation, mummers and mums!
Our Guardians continue down their dark, fated path. In the cover of the Great Vallakian Valley, our heroes take a fleeting taste of peace. Having been invited to dine with Lady Fiona Wachter later that evening, the Guardians took to the streets of Vallaki. They met the deranged toy maker, Blinsky, and discovered the uncanny likeness of his most popular doll to their charge, Ireena Kolyana. The Guardians learned that Blinsky has been forced to refine his “The Duchess Dolls” season after season under threat of Izek Strazni burning down his home by use of his demonic arm. Izek, strangely enough, has been missing since earlier that morning when he called the Guardians to their audience with the Baron.
The Guardians then sought out the members of Dissonant Lyric that had helped them clear their names the night before. However, the Guardians found the jailhouse empty, and a false wall that led to ancient catacombs beneath the town. The Guardians explored the catacombs and found a path from the jailhouse to the church, and then further, a larger chamber home to dozens of barrels of blackpowder, carefully stacked and cleanly organized, likely beneath the Burgomaster’s Mansion. Game recognizing game, the Guardians left without intervention.
The Guardians then left the walls of the town to investigate the Vistani Camp to the southwest. There the Guardians met a Vistani merchant pedaling his last barrel of blackpowder that his usual buyer had not shown up to claim. The Guardians also met with the “Dusk Elf” elder, Kasimir Velekov. Kasimir shared a history of Barovia far longer than just Strahd’s conquest of the valley: millennia ago, under her direction, acolytes of the Raven Queen sought to collect the memories of long dead old gods from before creation; to do so they collected from the void and cast in amber the last vestiges of their power. These Dark Powers began to corrupt the attendants of the Amber Temple, but rather than destroy them, the Raven Queen had her chosen take up host in the valley beneath the mountain and turned the temple into a prison. The Shadar Kai who guarded this prison would still fall to the corruption of the Dark Powers and over the eons, the bodies and spirits of those corrupted would be laid to rest in the catacombs as even resurrection by the Raven Queen could not cure them of their contracted madness. Kasimir promised to guide the Guardians to the Amber Temple, but requires time to prepare for a ritual necessary to enter, though he doesn’t do so entirely selflessly.
Later, at dinner with Lady Fiona, Charlemagne felt the presence of a powerful artifact at the Wachterhaus. The Lady charged the Guardians with investigating the Baron’s missing servants, hoping that the results would allow her to usurp the Baron’s position and take over Vallaki as the Burgomaster. The Lady left to attend another event, Ocarin and Warren distracted her servant, Ernst Lanark, while Charlemagne and Vorthos sought out and collected the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind. Ocarin and Warren learned from Ernst that the Lady Fiona Wachter leads a secret cult from her cellar, of the town’s elite, and that she promises them command over an undead legion and that through her they will all live as kings.
In the dark of night, the Guardians entered the Burgomaster’s Mansion and sought information regarding the missing servants. They found the Baron abusing his wife, Father Petrovich’s own sister, and hid in her powder room. There they found an ancient mirror with an incantation; using the mirror to find the missing Izek Strazni, the Guardians found that he had kidnapped Ireena from the Blue Water Inn. Charlemagne used the incantation to summon the Shade of the Mirror and commanded it to kill Izek, saving Ireena. The Guardians took the mirror to their room at the Inn, confident that the Baron’s family were simply unaware of its dark power.
The Guardians found a man, beaten, bloodied, and chained up in the Baron’s closet and freed him before heading to the attic of the Mansion. There, the Guardians confronted the Baron’s son, Victor, as he used an ornate spell book to build a flawed teleportation circle - a circle that he forced the two missing servants to enter; killing them through his incompetence.
Finally, the next morning, before the brunch of the town’s elites at the Burgomaster’s Mansion, the Guardians attempted to play both sides of the political conflict, sharing what they learned of the Baron and the Lady with each other, prompting them to try to use the brunch to oust the other. However, there is no comparison between political power and the simple potential of an unlit barrel of blackpowder… No Gods, no kings, no masters.
Warren Peace
None Swiftstride (Acolyte)
Monk 7
Monk 7
52 / 52 HP
STR
9
9
DEX
18
18
CON
15
15
INT
14
14
WIS
18
18
CHA
14
14
Charlemagne
None Shadar-kai (Hermit)
Druid 7
Druid 7
66 / 66 HP
STR
13
13
DEX
15
15
CON
18
18
INT
17
17
WIS
20
20
CHA
12
12
Vorthos D'Artagnan
None Changeling (Pirate)
Rogue 7
Rogue 7
45 / 45 HP
STR
9
9
DEX
19
19
CON
13
13
INT
12
12
WIS
12
12
CHA
16
16
Ocarin Stonehollow
None Reborn (Haunted One)
Bard 7
Bard 7
52 / 52 HP
STR
12
12
DEX
13
13
CON
15
15
INT
18
18
WIS
16
16
CHA
20
20
Report Date
24 Feb 2024
Primary Location
Secondary Location
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