Vallakovich Mansion

The mansion has walls of plastered stone that display many scars where the plaster has fallen away from age and neglect. Drapes cover every window, including a large, arched opening above the mansion's double entrance doors.

People are coming to and from the mansion at all hours of the day. Guards bring criminals cited for "malicious unhappiness." Men and women arrive carrying decorations in preparation for whatever festival is planned for the following days.
If the party knocks on the door, a maid named Anya lets them in, escorts them to the den, and leaves to fetch the baron.
Two members of the baron's household staff have vanished in the past week: the butler and the baroness's lady-in-waiting. The baron has charged Izek with finding out what happened to them, but investigation isn't Izek's forte. Searches have been organized, to no avail. The baron will not admit this to the party, but anyone else in the household will.

N3A. Entrance Hall and Vestibule

Framed portraits adorn the walls of this grand foyer, which features a wide staircase with a scuplted railing. A long, carpeted hall attached to the foyer stretches almost the length of the mansion and has several doors leading away from it, including one at the far end. Bundles of twigs are heaped against the walls.

The twigs are being stored until they can be fashioned into the wooden effigy of the sun for the Festival of the Burning Sun.
The stairs climb to the upstairs gallery (area N3i.)
The portaits depict the baron, his family, and their ancestors. Close inspection reveals that some of the people portayed look very much alike. The most recent depicts the baron, his wife, and their three sons: the eldest Victor, the adopted Izek, and the deceased youngster Valeri.
Tucked in the northeast corner of the foyer is a vestibule packed with fine cloaks, coats, and boots.

N3I. Upstairs Gallery

If the characters arrive from the entrance hall, read:

The staircase climbs twenty feet to a beatuifully appointed gallery that continues towards the west, running almost the length of the mansion. Framed landscape paintings line the walls, and red silk drapes cover a ten-foot-tall arched window of leaded glass. A short pull-rope hangs from a wooden trapdoor in the ceiling.

If the characters arrive from the kitchen, read:

The staircase climbs a ten-foot-wide gallery that spans almost the length of the mansion. Framed landscape paintings line the walls, and red silk drapes cover a ten-foot-tall arched window of leaded glass. Two separate, narrow hallways lead away from the gallery to the north. A short pull-rope hangs from a wooden trapdoor in the ceiling.

There is a trapdoor in the ceiling which can be pulled down to reveal an attic room (area N3s.) An unfolding wooden ladder allows easy access.

N3J. Izek's Bedroom

The large size of this room is exaggerated by how little is within it. A single rumpled bed is pushed against the far wall. A desk cluttered with empty wine bottles and scattered pages is against the south wall, with a wooden chest tucked in the corner beside it. A long bookshelf and several wall-mounted shelves sit empty and dusty. Every spare space on the wall is taken up with sketches of varying effort and skill, though all obviously done by the same hand. They are all of the same face--Agueda Morozov's face.

The door to this room is locked, and Izek carries the only key on his person at all times. He only spends the nights in this room, spending the days tending to his adoptive father's business.
The chest is unlocked and contains wrinkled clothing, under which is a nonmagical sword. A thorough search of the room reveals a few empty wine bottles under the bed, and several sketchbooks filled with more sketches of Agueda's face. A few sketches also show a large wolf tearing apart a man. A single sketch shows two children standing side by side, holding hands and smiling. The sketch was torn in half, and then stapled back together.

N3O. Master Bedroom

Time has faded the granduer of this master bedroom. The furnishings have lost some of their color and spledor.

The baron and baroness are only found in this room when it is time to sleep.

N3P. Powder Room

This room smells of powder and fine perfume. A vanity with a mirror stands against one wall next to a faceless wooden mannequin wearing a white bridal gown. Mounted on another wall is a full-length mirror with a gilded frame. A door in one corner leads to a garderobe.

This room is only used by the baroness as an escape to happier times, though she hasn't been in it since her lady-in-waiting has gone missing.
Magic Mirror. A detect magic spell reveals that the gilded mirror on the wall radiates an aura of enchantment magic. Being within 30 feet of the mirror causes a sense of wistful nostalgia to enter the mind. Casting an identify spell reveals that it is a Mirror of Reflected Pasts.
This mirror of elven design allows those who stare into it to reflect on positive memories. It has AC 11, 10 hit points, and vulnerability to bludgeoning damage. It shatters and is destroyed if reduced to 0 hit points.
While looking into the mirror, you can use an action to speak its command word and activate it. While activated, the mirror glows slightly, and it can be destroyed but not moved. It remains activated until you use an action to speak the command word again or your attunement to the mirror ends. Once the mirror has been deactivated, it can't be activated again until the next dawn.
If a non-Construct creature other than you sees its reflection in the activated mirror while within 30 feet of it, that creature must succeed on a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw or become paralyzed until the mirror is deactivated or until the creature can no longer see the mirror. A creature paralyzed by the mirror can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on a success. If a creature's saving throw is successful or the effect ends for it, the creature is immune to this mirror's effect for the next 24 hours.
While paralyzed by the mirror, the creature sees events from their past reflected in the mirror's glass. These memories aren't real, but rather idealized versions of those occurrences. Nearby observers can glimpse flashes of these memories if looking indirectly at the mirror.

N3T. Victor's Workroom

When coming from the attic, read:

Someone has carved a large skull into the door. Hanging from the doorknob is a wooden sign that reads "ALL IS NOT WELL!" You hear a young man's voice speaking behind the wood. (upon entering) Someone has taken old, mismatched furniture and created a study in this dusty, lamplit chamber. Tables are strewn with pieces of parchment, on which strange diagrams are drawn, and a free-standing bookshelf holds a collection of bones and dusty tomes. A dusty rug covers the floor in front of a pine box, on top of which lounges a skeleton cat. Several more skeletal cats skulk about. (if Victor is visible) In the center of the room, perched on a stool, is a thin young man with a shocking head of grey hair. He cradles an open leather-bound book in his arms.

Victor spends most of his time here, leaving only when he needs food or spell components. Anyone who examines the carving on the door and succeeds on a DC 14 Intelligence (Arcana) check notices a small, nearly invisible glyph of warding, which triggers if anyone other than Victor opens the door, dealing 5d8 lightning damage to the intruder. Anyone who listens at the door and succeeds on a DC 14 Ingelligence (Arcana) check can tell that the voice behind the door, which belongs to Victor, is badly pronounced some kind of teleportation spell.
If the characters trigger the glyph of warding or otherwise announce their arrival, Victor casts a greater invisibliity spell on himself and hides in a corner. Otherwise, he is visible when they enter.
The sheets of parchment are covered with elaborate diagrams of teleportation circles. Victor drew them in an attempt to learn the teleportation circle spell, which he's still trying to master. The trunk contains several bolts of silk cloth, needles and thread, and a half-finished wizard's robe. Victor started to make the robe for himself, but found the work tedious and stopped.
Teleportation Circle. Victor's spellbook contains incomplete text for a teleportation circle spell, along with the sigil sequences of three permanent teleportation circles, the locations of which aren't described. There's not enough text to prepare the spell properly, so Victor has been trying to reverse engineer it.
Victor has recently inscribed his attempt at a teleportation circle on the floor, hidden beneath the rug. He has managed to imbue it with magic, but it does not function as a teleportation circle. Any character who studies the circle and succeeds on a DC 15 Intelligence (Arcana) check deduces that the circle is horribly flawed and potentially deadly. If used in a teleportation circle spell, either the true spell or Victor's butchered version, any creature standing in the circle takes 3d10 necrotic damage and is not teleported anywhere. If this damage reduces the creatures to 0 hit points, the creature is disintegrated in a sickly purple light.
Victor has tested his circle on two servants, the missing butler and lady-in-waiting, using a suggestion spell to get them to agree. In both cases he attempted to link his circle to one of the circles in his book (both of them are locations in Svitar that no longer exist. Even if an existing circle was linked, however, the spell would fail.) Each servant died before his eyes. He doesn't know how to fix the circle, but plans to heavily modify it before attempting to use it again. He will not readily admit to the servants' fate.

Type

Mansion / Villa

Parent Location

Vallaki

Owner

Vargas Vallocovich

Ruling/Owning Rank

Burgomaster