Friends with the Devil

The Wachter family has always been a well-known public supporter of Strahd von Zarovich, Lady Fiona Wachter is no exception. The party had once met with her in her estate the Wachterhaus in the Town of Vallaki. This quest follows the mysteries surrounding the strangely positive attitude of Town of Vallaki's citizens.

Plot points/Scenes

Takes place party during Ravenloft Heist with a Hint of Lycanthropy following the events of The Festival of the Blazing Sun. 

Structure

Exposition

The Town of Vallaki has recently undergone an unusual transformation. As the Festival of the Blazing Sun ended with Rudolph van Richten's Sabert-toothed tiger ravaging through the town, mist slowly started settling in. That same night, creatures from the darkness crawled over the walls and from the water into the town. Baron Vargas Vallakovich stepped up as the burgomaster and together with Izek Strazni and his soldiers defeated the evil. The mists however, are still lingering in the city, seemingly waiting to pounce on unsuspecting prey.

Conflict

In order to free Emil Toranescu from Castle Ravenloft, the party was told to find Vasili von Holtz in the Town of Vallaki.

Enemy at the Gate

The now mist-covered Town of Vallaki sits silently in between the mountains with two guards in chainmail watch the characters closely as they approach. One of the guards is an oni in disguise as a human guard he eliminated some time ago. He is in charge of not letting anyone into the city. As a cover, he pretends to be a guard and has casted Charm Person on James, the other guard, and tells him the approaching characters are trouble and should be stopped at all costs. To that end, James is belligerent and seeks to deny them any passage.
If things devolve into combat, the oni says something to the effect of ''These people are trouble. We cannot let them pass. Do you agree?'' Then he'll grasp his weapon in an offensive manner, he allows James to attack first.

Entering Vallaki

After killing James and the oni the party entered the town and soon found their way to the Blue Water Inn to meet with Urwin Martikov. Immediately they noticed the strange and giddy behaviour of the villagers, this cannot go unnoticed.
Surprisingly however, it seems that Urwin Martikov as well as his wife, Danika, are following the same behaviour. While trying to ask about a man named Vasili von Holtz, he was spotted frozen on the stairs, moments later frantically making his way back upstairs. Interestingly enough, Izek Strazni came by later to check everything was going accordingly. Vasili von Holtz later sought contact with the party through a secret door leading to the attic. He agreed to help the party and admitted he had been stuck in the Town of Vallaki since the Festival of the Blazing Sun and wanted to go back home. The next day the party confronted Urwin Martikov and Danika once more as they noticed their children were not present. As a response Urwin Martikov raised his voice and stated that even though he cared for them, he had no intention of following up on their nosiness.

Rising Action

After killing Kiril Stoyanovich and dropping off Emil Toranescu at the Werewolf Den, Vasili von Holtz was unfortunately left behind in Castle Ravenloft as he gave the others a window of escape.

Family Matters

After recalling some information, Zachriel reminded Nemeia Pesphian of Madam Eva's prophecy from the Tarokka Reading. Together they come to realize Lady Fiona Wachter might have something to do with the Traitor card.

Climax

Thicker than Blood

Nikolai and Karl are the two sons of Lady Fiona Wachter and were known for being drunken spoiled brats that no one dared to tell off in fear of their mother. They didn't care about staying at home with their mother, they were too busy spending her money on themselves and pestering others. This behaviour however, was something Lady Fiona Wachter had enough of.
During The Festival of the Blazing Sun, the two boys were interested in Rudolph van Richten's wagon in the Arasek Stockyard. After messing around for a while they got the lock open, but Karl did get hurt in the process. Once they were met with the hungry eyes of the saber-toothed tiger, the boys bolted back to mother in tears. The saber-toothed tiger escaped, how the door ended up getting locked is unknown. Since Rudolph van Richten payed Gunther and Yelena Arasek quite a bit for the storage, the wagon has remained untouched for a while.
Realising what chaos went on in town Lady Fiona Wachter realised it was time to cease the opportunity. Angry with her boys she turned both of them into an oni having to follow her every order. Since then, Karl has been killed while guarding the entrance of Town of Vallaki by Fenler Karalius and Nemeia Pesphian, turning back into his original form instead of his transformed oni shape.
Nikolai has been pretending to be Izek Strazni, Baron Vargas Vallakovich's right-hand man.

Burgomaster in Despair

During the night of The Festival of the Blazing Sun, Baron Vargas Vallakovich was soon taken away by someone whom he believed to be Izek Strazni (in reality Nikolai). He was brought to Burgomaster's Mansion where his wife, Lydia Petrovna, and his son, Victor Vallakovich, were standing paralyzed. Lady Fiona Wachter then told Baron Vargas Vallakovich that she was in charge now and that she was taking Victor as leverage. If Baron Vargas Vallakovich even slightly hesitates with an order she will kill his son. His wife is allowed to stay next to his side to avoid suspicion.
Victor is locked up with Stella in her room (N4n), both of them are not allowed to exit until they agree to get married. When he knows Lady Fiona Wachter is gone, purple flashes can be seen from under the door as he is trying to perfect his teleportation spell.
From that day on, anyone who opposed Lady Fiona Wachter's word, said through Baron Vargas Vallakovich's mouth, would find Nikolai, in Izek Strazni's form, visiting them at night and taking away a loved one. Nikolai tells them the same thing every time: ''If you behave nicely you will get your toys back.''

Falling Action

Visiting the Wachterhaus

If the players first decide to visit the Wachterhaus they are met with one of the servants answering the door. They are allowed in as guests and are supposed to wait in the parlor. Lady Fiona Wachter joins them after about 20 minutes and gracefully asks the characters what she could mean for them. She doesn't recognize Nemeia Pesphian immediately since Rark is not with the party anymore.
She of course denies all accusations confidently. The party may make a Wisdom (Insight) check, if they roll above DC 15 they notice Lady Fiona Wachter is quite distraught. If pressed politely or seemingly in Strahd von Zarovich's side, she shares that her youngest son, Karl, has recently been killed by Rictavio and his saber-toothed tiger outside of the gates. She mentions Izek Strazni is aware and the moment he either sees Rictavio or the saber-toothed tiger they will know a painful death. 

Visiting the Burgomaster's Mansion

If the party visit during the day Nikolai is with Baron Vargas Vallakovich all the time. It either takes a well-organised distraction or a late-night sneaky visit to talk to the baron alone. He then admits Lady Fiona Wachter has his son and if he doesn't oblige to all her orders he will be murdered. He exclusively mentions he will be in the party's debt if they return his son to him.

If All Else Fails...

Ernst Larnak had been following the characters when they first entered the Town of Vallaki, he immediately recognizes Nemeia Pesphian.
He purposefully wants to be spotted by them and therefore does a horrible job at ''stalking'' them. Once the party confronts him he claims to keep a watchful eye on all strangers, you never know these days. Then he walks up to Nemeia Pesphian, grabs her hand with both of his hands, shakes it, says ''It was a pleasure as always'', leaves a note, and heads out.

Between 9PM and 11PM you can enter through the frontdoor without too much trouble, don't tell that burgomaster shit. She will be busy in the basement so she won't hear you. Nikolaj is asleep is his own room. If you run into trouble speak the following words: ''Let the dead remain at rest''.

After Lady Fiona Wachter had gone insane with transforming her sons into the monsters that they became, Ernst realised that no money would ever suffice keeping this quiet. Nikolai and Karl may have been assholes, but no kid deserves that fate.
The bookclub is active downstairs between 9PM and 11PM. During this time Lady Fiona Wachter and her imp are downstairs. Since the room is soundproof she cannot hear the party upstairs. Nikolai sleeps in his original bedroom.
''Let the dead remain at rest'' causes the dead Vallakians to stop attacking them als results into Nikolai falling back asleep if they wake him.

Resolution

The Book Club

In order to win over more people from the town, Lady Fiona Wachter she spread word amongst the people of promises of safety and riches. She swore to return the people of the Town of Vallaki their children from the evil Baron Vargas Vallakovich if they would help her to do so. If the party intrudes the Book Club she points at them and calls them allies of Baron Vargas Vallakovich, the concerned parents immediately attack the party.
On the first round, Lady Fiona Wachter summons Nikolai to fight for her as she flees upstairs to grab her belongings in N4q and run off to Castle Ravenloft.

Victor

If the party rescues Victor he tells the party why he was locked up and that the other children have been turned into cats and have been locked in the library upstairs (N4p). Even though he is thankful that they saved him, he says he has no intention of going back to his parents. He shows the party the book he found in his father's library. It's a flimsy spellbook focussed on teleportation. He shares with the party that he has been determined to find a way out of this shithole of a country and leave his parents as doomed as they always have been.
The party could convince him to go back to his parents, but if they ask him where else he would go he asks them if he could come with them.

Conclusion

The cats can be turned back to normal with a greater restoration spell or if the party kills Lady Fiona Wachter. If she is killed Nikolai also dies.
If Victor is returned to Baron Vargas Vallakovich he mentions he is in their debt and says that if they ever need a favour they could come to him.
The Wachterhaus remains empty unless the party decides to move in there themselves. If Lady Fiona Wachter flees, odds are she runs into Vasili von Holtz. He captures her and contacts the party asking them to come to him and let them handle the situation.
In the end, Lady Fiona Wachter was killed by Zachriel in Vasili von Holtz's house. Izek Strazni and Zachriel opened the iron box, revealing an old set of bones and the hilt of a sword. 
After they came back to Town of Vallaki they found that the children had turned back into their normal selves, but that Stella has still remained the same. Fenler Karalius made up with Urwin Martikov and everything seemed well. Later that night, as they were celebrating with the wine that was left in the Wachterhaus, Fenler Karalius noticed Erasmus van Richten looking at Vasili von Holtz with a distant stare. As everyone went to bed, Vasili von Holtz spoke to Zachriel as he paralyzed him, revealing himself to be Strahd von Zarovich and stealing the hilt of the sword.

Plot type

Chapter