Session 25 Report: Baronial Brunch

General Summary

The Investigation Club, Father Lucian, and Ireena make it safely through the rest of the night, barricaded within St. Andral's Church with a rotating watch. After surveying some of the damage in the morning, they're interrupted by some loud knocking coming from the front door. The source of the knocking was none other than the man they had seen the evening before with the bestial arm, jogging at the head of a squad of town guard toward the coffin maker's workshop.   The man introduced himself as Izek Strazni, Captain of the town guard of Vallaki. He set out to find the folks that managed to defeat so many devil spawn at the shop and had noticed the body of another that they had tracked back to the church. Izek encouraged them to come with him to meet his patron, the Baron Vargas Vallakovich, as he'd be more than happy to add some dedicated mercenaries to his employ if they were fellow enemies of the Devil.   Taking Father Lucian aside, the party learns it will take him three days to perform the ritual that will hallow the church grounds again and will need to be focused and in prayer with the church closed to the public during that time. He hoped the party could stay as guard but is open to other options as well. Ireena agrees to stay behind and watch over the church during the ritual but recommends the party request the guard provide some protection as well.   After some deliberation, the Club agrees to head to the Baron's house after tidying up a bit at the church and making sure all their affairs are in order. Izek also agrees to leave a rotation of guards outside the church to ensure the same thing doesn't happen again, and mentions that the Club should not mention the vampire spawn having been in the church as implying their presence in a place protected by the Morninglord may be seen as blasphemous.   The Club headed to the Baron's home and introduced themselves to the Baron's wife, Baroness Lydia Vallakovich, mentioning they had a meeting with the baron. She directed them upstairs to his study, mentioning that they should feel free to join her and some fellow Vallakians in preparing for the upcoming festival after their business concluded. Through some pincer-strategy-persuasion by Barros and Sergei, the meeting with Baron Vargas went well, landing them some initial contract details with retainer and special fee for information. As part of their contract they were asked to keep mentions and visibility of connections with the Baron secret so as to encourage the common person, or the Baron's enemies, to be more forthcoming:

• Contract: investigate the Wachters, especially Lady Fiona Wachter, and her discreet, underhanded, late-night congregations
• Contract: determine how the "devil spawn" had made it into the coffin maker's workshop
• Contract: locate the two servants, Greer Tanova and Therm Kerovish, who had gone missing in the recent month
• Retainer: 300 gp
• Information fee: 10 gp for piece of information leading to the discovery of Devil worship and/or the arrest of intentional spreaders of malicious unhappiness

Concluding their business as the Baron's new confidantes, the Club requested to begin their investigation into Lady Wachter by interviewing the Baron's family, to which he proudly agreed, claiming they were the most upstanding citizens around with nothing to hide. The Baron asked them wait in his den downstairs and a servant would collect his wife and son to be interviewed, finally bidding them farewell with the catchphrase the party noted on posters plastered all over town, "All will be well!"   The interview with Lady Vallakovich went as the party expected. The conversation was relatively shallow and mostly centered around the uplifting work the Vallakovich family and Vallakian citizens were doing around the anti-evil festivals. The Baroness's interactions with the Wachters were minimal if any beyond the prior engagement of her son with the Wachter daughter, Stella Wachter. The chat with Victor divulged a bit more information. He didn't seem know much about the appearance of the vampire spawn in the city, but went into a bit more detail regarding his failed betrothal to the Wachter daughter.  

The engagement was arranged, clearly a plot by my father to consolidate power by tying his greatest rival to his own house. I didn't mind - she was a sweet girl at first - but then things started to get…unusual…

— Victor Vallakovich

  Victor didn't seem to have an explanation as to the cause but finally divulged the nature of the unusual behavior: that Stella had started to jump at her own shadow and her mental state had degraded to the point of believing she was a cat. While they learned a fair bit of the engagement and how it had gone downhill from Victor, Red noticed he gave off an almost too calculated presence, sometimes looking pensive for a blink of an eye upon certain topics, notably of books or magic, but returning immediately to his noble, intentional composure.   Following the interviews, the Club briefly joined Baroness Lydia Vallakovich and a table full of assembled common folk. The group was tying together bundles of reeds and sticks to the end of assembling a wicker sun to be the center-piece of the upcoming Festival of the Blazing Sun, which would be taking place in three days. Red noted that one of the commoners, Falma, demonstrated a bit more deftness in her task than the rest. After some stale biscuits, over-steeped tea, and superficial conversation, the Club took their leave and headed out to take a closer look at the coffinmakers's workshop.   The fire at the coffinmaker's shop had been put out by the guard and two had been left behind to patrol and keep watch for anything suspicious. After some convincing, the Club gained entry and poked around a bit. Some doors and cabinets were still locked. Henrik did not seem to be terribly well off, as he mentioned for the reasoning behind taking the money from Ludmilla in the first place, and this was further evidenced by the lack of anything of particular note or value among his locked away possessions. Further into the attic, into what appeared to be a wood storage area, Red noticed some strange, patterned markings painted onto the floor. He took note of them but couldn't decipher their purpose beyond that they appeared to be at once magical, but inert.   Moving on from the shop, the Investigation Club checked up on each of the 5 gates into town, asking the guard on duty about their comings and goings. There wasn't a lot of travel through them, the most notable being:

• West gate: the hunters Szoldar Szoldarovich and Yevgeni Krushki
• North gate: the fisherman and drunk, Bluto Krogarov, who lives near the north gate across from the Wachter house
• East gate: only the Investigation Club themselves recently
• Southeast and Southwest gate: mostly the Vistani from the camp south of the city, though they rarely enter town and only to trade light goods from their carts

On the Vistani, the Club learned they aren't the Baron's favorite since they are suspected to deal equally with the Devil as with locals. That said, there hasn't been any substantial proof and their stories and goods do help bring hope to the people which aligns with the Baron's goals.   Finally, the party decided to return to the Bluewater Inn for the night. Sergei and Tavani headed to St. Andral's Church to check up on Ireena and Father Lucian while Barros and Red decided to head straight to the inn. Ireena was tidying up from the fight the night previous, the church looked in slightly better repair but still a little torn apart. Father Lucian was still in the burial chamber below the alter and seemed fine if not a little disturbed by the intrusion. Neither of them seemed to know what the arcane symbols from the coffinmaker's attic could mean.   As they walked into the Bluewater Inn, Red noticed a woman on the balcony above the bar flagging them down to meet her upstairs. Red headed upstairs while Barros headed to the bar. Barros grabbed some drinks for himself, Red, and Urwin Martikov, the barkeep and co-owner, to celebrate their new contract. Though Barros kept mentioning Red would return soon, the two drank alone for a time. Urwin seemed to like Barros's energy and claimed the next round was on the house, over glares from his wife and co-owner Danika. After a couple drinks Urwin mentioned that was the last of their nicer vintage, the Red Dragon Crush, and that they'd have to switch to Purple Grapemash #3. They hadn't gotten a shipment from the Wizard of the Wines Winery in some time which was a bit concerning. Noticing Barros and his colleagues were the adventuring type, he asked if they could check up on the winery should they head down that way. He would compensate them in free room and board and what he could spare monetarily should they ever return to Vallaki.   Meanwhile, Red went to meet the woman who waved them down from the balcony. She shut the door and introduced herself as a fellow enemy of Strahd Von Zarovich, the famous vampire hunter Ezmerelda d'Avenir, though in the region she's been going by the name Esther El Drago to hide her identify from Strahd and his spies. Red mentioned Barros and the rest would be joining them soon, but they ended up waiting awkwardly for a few minutes before Esther asked him to gather his party and come back to meet her at her rooms or theirs to discuss plans. Red mentioned he would knock a specific pattern of 4 knocks so she knew it was him then headed back down to join Barros, arriving around the same time as the rest of the Club.

Rewards Granted

• 300 gp

Character(s) interacted with

• Father Lucian Petrovich
• Ireena Kolyana
• Izek Strazni
• Baron Vargas Vallakovich
• Baroness Lydia Vallakovich
• Victor Vallakovich
• Urwin Martikov
• Danika Martikov
• Esther El Drago, aka Ezmerelda d'Avenir