Bluto
Town of Vallaki drunkard and fisherman. He is a short, balding, pudgy man with a wine gut that rivals all in the land. Everyone knows he has a problem with Vistani & Dark Elves and despises them fully. It's only a matter of time before he does something brash.
1. QUEST: Saving Arabelle: Bluto hasn't been seen for a couple of days now which is odd. He is usually hanging around the Blue Water Inn and discussing his poor taste in politics. Recently he has been on another kick about how "those smelly hippies keep growing in numbers" and if it were up to him he would "tie them to a boulder and throw them in the lake".
When the PCs arrive at Lake Zarovich, they will have to pass the following skill challenge to save Arabelle, the Vistana child that Bluto Krogarov has kidnapped. See here for more information on how to run skill challenges.
In this skill challenge, the PCs must accrue three successes before three failures. If the PCs pass this challenge, they are able to rescue Arabelle before she drowns.
If the challenge is failed with at least one success, the PCs are able to recover Arabelle’s corpse from the lake. If the challenge is failed with zero successes, Arabelle’s corpse falls into the depths of Lake Zarovich, lost among the dark silt and cold currents.
This skill challenge is divided into three separate stages: Sprint, Recovery, and Revival.
PLOT HOOKS:
Saving Arabelle
- During the Sprint, your PCs must reach Bluto’s boat before Arabelle’s sack sinks too deep in the water. One success is required to progress from this stage to the Recovery stage. Your PCs may use several skills or abilities to pass this section of the skill challenge, including any of the following features:
- Athletics (DC 13 - Moderate) can be used to swim from shore to rescue Arabelle.
- Athletics (DC 8 - Easy) can be used to swim to Arabelle’s rescue if the PCs previously took a rowboat out onto the lake.
- Nature (DC 18 - Hard) can be used to spot currents in the water’s surface that can speed one’s progress.
- Levelled spells (Automatic Success) such as Enlarge, Gust of Wind, Alter Self, or Misty Step; or cantrips (DC 8 - Easy) such as Shape Water can be used to speed a PC’s attempts to swim toward Arabelle.
- In the second part, the Recovery stage, your PCs must swim deep enough to retrieve Arabelle’s sack before it sinks into the murky depths. One success is required to progress from this stage to the Revival stage.
- Athletics (DC 8 - Easy) can be used to carry Arabelle’s sack back to the surface.
- Perception (DC 13 - Moderate) can be used to peer through the silt-choked water to track the movement of Arabelle’s sack.
- Investigation (DC 18 - Hard) can be used to feel the motion of the water currents to track the displacement of the sinking Arabelle.
- Levelled spells (Automatic Success) such as Enlarge, Gust of Wind, Alter Self, or Misty Step; or cantrips (DC 8 - Easy) such as Shape Water can be used to speed a PC’s attempts to dive down to Arabelle.
- Levelled spells (Automatic Success) such as Levitate, Tenser’s Floating Disk, or Feather Fall; or cantrips (DC 8 - Easy) such as Gust or Shape Water can be used to raise Arabelle through the water toward her rescuer.
- With Arabelle saved from a watery fate, the PCs find the girl unconscious, unmoving, and unresponsive. In the Revival stage, she must be saved from the liquid in her lungs before it suffocates her. If the PCs achieve their third success in this stage before failing, they complete the skill challenge successfully.
- Medicine (DC 8 - Easy) or Survival (DC 13 - Moderate) can be used to pump the water from Arabelle’s lungs.
- Levelled spells (Automatic Success) such as Healing Word; or cantrips (DC 8 - Easy) such as Shape Water can be used to remove the water suffocating the girl.
Developments:
- If the PCs succeed in rescuing Arabelle, the precocious young Vistana thanks them for their aid, and asks them to deliver her to the Vistani encampment near Vallaki. Upon arrival, Luvash greets Arabelle joyously, and showers the PCs with praise, offering the party the choice of an artifact or treasure from the Vistani treasure wagon. As the party prepares to leave, Arabelle’s gifts as a seer overtake her, and she delivers a foreboding prophecy that foreshadows a great danger or reward in the trials to come. From this point forward, the PCs are always welcome at the Vistani encampment here, and Arrigal refuses any assignments Strahd may make to hunt or steal from the PCs.
- If the PCs fail to rescue Arabelle before she drowns, or if they ignore this quest entirely for seven days or more, Arabelle is drowned beneath the waters of Lake Zarovich. With her dying breath, Arabelle curses Bluto with the power within her Vistana blood. Her malediction, strengthened by the trauma of her death and her relation to Madam Eva, disfigures Bluto’s face into a wolf’s muzzle, so that he may resemble in body the predator he has become in spirit.
- Bluto flees for Vallaki and hides himself away in his home, ashamed and terrified of discovery. Two days after drowning Arabelle, Bluto emerges into Vallaki’s market to purchase basic foodstuffs and supplies, and is discovered by the town guard when the rag he has wrapped around his face falls loose. He is captured and imprisoned in the stocks. Baron Vallakovich proceeds to parade Bluto about the town in chains during the next festival, releasing him shortly before the burning of the wicker sun for the townsfolk to stone him to death.
Personality Characteristics
Vices & Personality flaws
Drinks too much and hates elves.
Current Location
Ethnicity
Age
49
Children
Quotes & Catchphrases
"Those blasted long ears would be better off 6 feet under. They already smell like rotting corpses."