Хололуна 8, 736
The morning began with two separate revelations: first,
Ayduin managed to roll two natural 20s with disadvantage to overhear
Ri-An saying "upgrade complete," which gave him the beginnings of insight into how Ri-An sees the world, and the general concept of levels and hit points. The pair then had an excited conversation in which, upon realizing Ri-An could now store several iterations of a single spell in an item, they agreed that Catapult was a far superior choice to Cure Wounds.
With a somewhat different tone,
Sylvain came to consciousness with a sense of urgency and perhaps some dread, having been granted a vision from
the Raven Queen — normally
Bodaway's area of expertise. As the memories he'd been given insight into were those of
Arabelle, Sylvain deduced that the reason they'd been delivered to him rather than Bodaway were twofold: she wanted to meet with Sylvain specifically, and she had not yet forgiven Bodaway for his failure to act on the vision he'd been given of
van Richten's attack on her people.
Bodaway was somewhat startled and wounded to realize his sort-of patron had granted visions to someone else, and not at all reassured to hear that Arabelle's desire for a talk was tied into
Arrigal's fate. However, the pair agreed that the matter should be brought to the party, and that it would be prudent to stop by the
Vallaki Vistani camp to see what exactly Arabelle knew.
Osrin had breakfast, probably. The only one staying out of the drama that morning fr.
Now with a planned pause with the Vistani, the party set off, quickly realizing how dangerous it is to travel in extreme cold with several people who are neither used to nor equipped for such temperatures. While the party was well equipped, and
teaghlach cara both warmly dressed and accustomed to spending bitter Barovian winters outdoors, the
wereravens were both unused to travelling in these conditions and poorly supplied for clothing, and suffered greatly for it. By the mid-day pause, several of the ravens were flagging, and grateful for the opportunity to warm up in the mansion while the party sought out Arabelle.
After some discussion, Bodaway decided to come with the party, despite Arabelle having declared him
mortio the last time they'd met, and stating she would only keep the secret of his actions out of respect for the party and their fight against
Strahd, and only until their business with Strahd was done. As it turns out, the little girl had not been fucking around, and after Ayduin caught a look on her face from a distance, it was agreed that only he and Sylvain would go to meet her, the others hanging back in the woods to avoid any drastic action from the pint-sized prophet.
Sylvain asked if Arabelle had wanted to speak alone, and she confessed that while that had been her plan, Ayduin was welcome to stay, given the efforts he'd made to connect with the land and the powers that had once guided and guarded it. She told the pair that she had information that could help save nine souls from desecration and damnation, but that she would only provide it if Sylvain swore an oath that his party would not hunt down or kill her uncle. If they agreed, she said, he would not trouble or threaten them again; if they disagreed, those nine souls would be damned, as would Arrigal, and she would make it her personal mission to hunt down Bodaway as soon as she was confident she could kill him herself.
Sylvain asked if he could consult with the party; Arabelle denied this request. So Sylvain agreed, hoping his companions would agree that saving nine people was more important than vengeance on one guy who Sylvain, at least, had had somewhat ambiguous interactions with.
And so Arabelle delivered the news, and the deadline: they had three days to kill Strahd von Zarovich, or nine people would be damned, including someone Bodaway cared deeply about. At midday on Хололуна 11, Arrigal would return to Barovia. If the sun was shining when he did, he would leave his victims at Krezk, and leave Barovia, not to trouble the party again. If Barovia was still under Strahd's thrall, Arrigal would take those nine innocents to his master, and they would face fates worse than death.
Back in the woods, the other three did their best to pass the time without too much anxiousness, each of them dancing around the unfortunate circumstances they were in, Bodaway's guilt and Arabelle's anger. Osrin did her best to reassure Bodaway that as far as she was concerned, he wasn't at fault.
"Sometimes I wish Father had spent more time educating me in humanoid psychology."
—Ri-An
Back with the Vistani, Ayduin and Sylvain sought out
Atanasie and
Manda at Arabelle's suggestion, finding the camp as a whole in a state of inebriated, wild mourning at the news of
Madam Eva's passing. They found the couple stocked up with several potions, as they'd apparently set off on a quest of their own after
their last meeting, in search of Oil of Etherealness to aid the party. They'd found not only that item, but several potions of healing, which they discreetly handed over to Ayduin and Sylvain. They definitely bought all of them with gold and no crime. Sylvain offered his thanks and some sneaky gold, along with wine from his alchemy jug, only to have
Rudolph stumble over insisting he had something even better: his latest batch of vodka, lovingly bottled and much less likely to burn the hair off your face when you went to drink it than the last offerings he'd presented the party.
Lech was also there, allegedly.
Warning their allies of the threat van Richten would present once Strahd's hold on him lessened, Ayduin and Sylvain sought out
Ruslan, hoping to give him the same warning. They debated which of the dusk elf cabins was his for some time, forgetting that neither of them actually
knew that information, before caving and asking one of the guard elves, only to be informed Ruslan was off in the woods. Hoping the warnings they'd already provided would be enough, they rejoined their companions, suggesting one more detour — to the area
Ez had hidden her wagon and its many supplies — might be in order before seeking out the mansion and their allies. They found the wagon, but what they found within wasn't at all reassuring: it had been utterly cleared out, only a note bearing a familiar seal left behind, Strahd offering his thanks.
Making their way back to the mansion rather later than first promised, the party discussed their options, and agreed that as unnerving as leaving
Ismark to his own devices was, attempting to meet Arabelle's timeline was preferable to the alternative. Their allies took a bit of convincing, but agreed: there would be no visit to the village of Barovia, but an immediate march on
Castle Ravenloft.
Another discussion took place: whether or not to notify the werewolves. Despite Bodaway's misgivings over the possibility of betrayal, Sylvain and Ayduin believed
Zuleika was earnest in her motivation to help them, and so they agreed: they would send a paper bird to her, and when they thought it would be arriving, Bodaway would use his newfound scrying ability to observe the reaction.
The bird was sent, and the second half of the day's travel began, cut short after only a couple of hours when several of their companions showed extreme signs of fatigue.
Krezk water was offered to
Danica, and
Oileán confessed something that had been weighing on her: after all the resurrections and restorations of recent weeks, she was running dangerously low on supplies. She could offer a handful of Greater Restorations, but the moment she offered one, she would no longer have the necessary materials to raise the dead, and there was no hope of finding more of the components her people favoured before the spring thaw.
Another tense discussion ensued, and the party agreed: the priority was to make it to Ravenloft on time. If they succeeded, soon they could call in their allies from beyond Barovia, along with materials for resurrection.
If they failed... well. Spell components would be the least of their concerns then.
As the mansion was set up and the exhausted tended to, Bodaway sat down to scry on
Zuleika, seeing a vision that was relatively banal but illuminating. Though he only caught a glimpse at the end of her receipt of the message, he had the better part of ten minutes to observe her as she paced and... fretted. He saw not a diabolical werewolf plotting their betrayal and destruction, but a tired, stressed single mother fearing a challenge for her tentative hold over the leadership of the pack. Satisfied that they wouldn't have to fear betrayal from Zuleika, at least — though the other werewolves remained an unknown quantity — they settled into the mansion for the night.
Ri-An took Sylvain aside, discussing their newly urgent timeline for modifications on the rapier. Before the evening's rest, the pair worked together on planning out the changes, Ri-An promising to do the best with whatever forging hours were left to them before their weeks of confrontation with Strahd came to a head.
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