Bargaining With Anushka--Barovia

General Summary

You fought Anushka for a few rounds and thoroughly kicked her butt, thanks in large part to the strongest-willed crocodiles in Barovia. She told Vanya that if he killed her, he wouldn't like what became of Sofia Albescu; she may not have known that she'd eaten human flesh, but she had, and now she'd have a taste for it. Anushka could break the curse, but not if she was dead.
Vanya tried to open with the good old-fashioned "if you break the curse and promise never to meddle in Sofia or her child's lives again, I'll let you leave alive," but Anushka was unimpressed, since Vanya wasn't going to kill her as long as she was the only one who could save Sofia. Vanya knew he couldn't believably threaten her with torture and Errol wasn't around to do it sincerely, so that meant making a bargain. Thanks to Vanya's genre-savviness, you were able to hash out the following terms:
Vanya would allow Anushka to take her things and leave alive. He owed her five minutes of his time (two before his appointment and three after), on the condition that Anushka didn't interfere with any of his dealings with The Dark Man (a stipulation which earned him a "clever boy"), and he also would answer five questions to the best of his ability. In return, Anushka would break the curse on Sofia and the baby and never meddle in their lives again (with a note leaving a plausible explanation for why she'd left), would build a decent fence around the pigs to keep them contained, and would also break the illusion/enchantment spell that was muddling Sofia's vision (since otherwise she might still mistake humans for fatted pigs or monsters for friendly dogs).
Vanya briefly conferred with Rose to make sure that she'd intervene if any of the questions endangered her or Julien (which they did, so good thinking!) When she asked him her questions, he revealed the basic terms of the deal and that the demon he'd dealt with was the one who called himself the Gentleman Caller. He said that he didn't know exactly why the Gentleman Caller had chosen him of all the peasants who went to the crossroads, but that he'd said that occasionally he liked to make an investment and see if it paid dividends. When Anushka asked whether it had paid off and how, Vanya admitted that you'd been in touch with one of the Gentleman Caller's children. She asked for details, and Vanya told her about Vigo, Amelia, the Imp, and Malocchio (with which she was unimpressed)--their names, where they were, that they all had Vistani blood, and that they had powers that seemed to interest their father. At that point, Rose sicced Constance on her and started screaming in her face while Vanya very quietly said that the fifth one was named Julien and was traveling with you. Anushka was cheesed, but couldn't say you'd broken your word. Rose got in her face and made a truly spectacular intimidate check, because High Dudgeon Rose is the best Rose, and that put the kibosh on any further hagly shenanigans. She broke the curse while you buried the bodies and otherwise made the place look normal, then left with the four-eyed pig. You sent the other two off to live in the forest and not get eaten.
Sofia woke up and Vanya told her that Anushka had left on some emergency, which didn't make her happy. He apologized, worked out with her that she'd talk to Brother Vaclav about finding a midwife when the time came, and gave her a bag with a thousand gold (which just about made her faint again). He said that when everything was done, he hoped he could see her and the baby, and that he was trying to raise Julien to be a better man than he was. Sofia admitted that she knew, deep down, that Vanya had never looked at her the way he'd looked at his wife and probably never would, and Vanya said that first he'd been too broken inside and then too haunted by his deal to truly be with anyone; maybe when everything was done, they'd be able to start over. Sofia was skeptical, but gave him a kiss on the cheek before he left.

Related Reports

Previous session: Confronting Anushka Part One--Barovia 
Next session: Returning to childhood homes--Barovia

Notes

Vanya now owes five minutes to Anushka, two before his meeting with the Gentleman Caller and three after

Report Date

08 Jun 2022

Primary Location

Barsana

Secondary Location

Barovia

Related Characters

• Anushka
• Sofia Albescu