Session 32 Report: New Prophecies and the Toy Man's Monkey

General Summary

South Vallaki Vistani Camp

The Investigation Club set out southward from Lake Zarovich around the outskirts of Vallaki. With them, they carried the now exhausted and passed out Arabelle and pulled Bluto's cart, full of shabby fishing equipment and the knocked out, tied up Bluto himself. It was well into the evening by the time they arrived at the Vistani camp: a series of small houses surrounding the base of a hill, atop which stood a large circular tent with a stream of smoke streaming from its peak. Realizing they probably shouldn't bring the unconscious culprit of Arabelle's abduction into the camp, Barros agrees to stay behind with the cart as Sergei, Tavani, and Beair head up to return Arabelle to Luvash. At the top of the hill, the party passed a number of carriages circling the tent and a small yard filled with over twice as many horses. The group entered the tent and found Arrigal who was quick to fetch Luvash, who in turn was overcome with relief and joy, calling for all of the search parties to return and celebrate with a feast that night. Pulling the party aside while Arrigal brought Arabelle something to eat, Luvash asked what had happened, looking for blood, but the party managed to convince him they'd "taken care of the problem". Hearing this news and returning to his prior jovialness, he implored the party to let him compensate them somehow and led them to one of their treasure wagons to have their pick of one item from its contents. These included:

• A wooden chest containing electrum
• An iron chest containing gold
• An onyx jewelry box with gold filigree containing some jewelry and a vial of potion of poison
• A wooden throne with gold inlay and decorative stones
• A rolled-up, expensive-looking rug
• A small wooden box containing potion-looking bottles

After some searching around, not feeling attached to anything in particular, Beair came up with another idea. He chatted Luvash up for a bit and convinced him that he could pay them in a favor they could call in at a later date. Luvash agreed and handed Beair a small wooden token with a carved wagon wheel shape embossed on either side. When shown to the right people, Luvash claimed, this coin would get them favors and open doors that may otherwise be unavailable to them. Luvash went on to invite them to stay for the feast and celebration that night and headed off to make preparations.   Beair heard some music starting up and headed to see if he could jam alongside them and maybe learn some things. Unfortunately the Vistani's quick, unusual finger work on their instruments left him missing notes and falling off the rhythm in the beginning. They offered him some wine to calm his nerves a bit and slowed down to show him how it was done. Meanwhile, Sergei and Tavani headed back down the hill to let Barros know about the celebration and come up with their next steps. When they told him about their exchange with Luvash for the valuable, favor-providing wooden coin, Barros was frustrated they hadn't gotten anything of monetary value but ultimately gave up on arguing the point.

Real coins are tokens of real value...

— Barros

Not wanting to miss any other chances for treasure or information, Barros swapped cart-watch duty with Sergei who agreed to wait behind and not do anything suspicious despite Barros's suspicions that he may harm or kill Bluto for being "evil". Sergei reassured him it wouldn't come to that and waved the other two back up the hill to enjoy the festivities for a bit before they headed back to the town later that night.   Once back at the hilltop campsite, Barros ran into Beair who was finally getting the hang of how the Vistani played music. He then went to find Luvash and ask him about a rumor he'd heard: are the Vistani able to leave the valley of Beauverre and navigate the choking mist surrounding it? And if they can, could they take the crew back home to New Reet City? Luvash sighed, seemingly not being the first time he's been asked this, and let Barros know the bad news. While it was in fact true that the Vistani were able to come and go as they pleased, they could only ferry outsiders into the valley, not the other way around. They'd attempted to do so long ago but those they tried to smuggle either disappeared in the mist and reappeared back in the valley or disappeared entirely, never to be seen again. Barros was also curious what their plans were, given the elevated tensions, the kidnapping, and the new law barring Vistani entrance into Vallaki. Luvash thought for a bit then said they'd probably head out to the southern part of the valley toward Mt. Ghakis where there were no towns and more open space. The environment and animals tended to get a bit less friendly as you scaled the mountain so they'd likely stop and make camp near the base for the near future.   Right as the group was about to head out, Arabelle ran up to them to thank them again for saving her. She was dragging along a well-worn doll, whom she called "Lady", with one of its eyes hanging by a thread. Strangely, Barros and Tavani recognized the doll as bearing an eerily strong resemblance to Ireena Kolyana. They asked to see the doll and noticed a tag on it that they'd seen before: "Is no fun, is no Blinsky!". For future reference, Beair proceeds to make a quick but strikingly good sketch of the doll, tag included. The group returned the doll and was about to leave when suddenly Arabelle dropped it, her eyes becoming white, misty swirls and seeming to emanate mist themselves. She floated up a few feet into the air and, turning to each of the three in turn, delivered familiar but slightly different premonition from the one they'd received from Madam Eva at the the Tser Pool Vistani Camp.

The hands turn and leave the past where old things become forgotten. The windmill turns not grain, but death.   Thrown stones fall but this one flies! In its southern home, it keeps that which the darkness fears.   The power to slay the dark lies hidden away. Beware the Abbot for they are not what they seem.

Arabelle floated back down to the ground, eyes returning to normal, and immediately returned to talking about her doll and the games they played as if nothing had happened. The group asked if she remembered what she just said or what had just happened and she looked at them confusedly, repeating what she had been saying about her doll, Lady. Not wanting to distress her further, the group said their goodbyes and started to head out, Beair stopping one last time to clean Lady up a bit using prestidigitation. Arabelle thanked him then immediately started dragging Lady on the ground again as she skipped away toward the growing bonfire and festivities. The Club reassembled at the base of the hill and discussed some plans: this Blinsky character's name kept popping up so maybe it was time they paid him a visit.

Vallaki - Blinsky's Toyshop

The Investigation Club made their way back into Vallaki just after nightfall and stopped by St. Andral's church again, this time dropping off the unconscious Bluto who would remain tied to a bed in a room there until they decided what to do with him. Afterwards, they discreetly made their way along side streets towards Blinsky's toy shop, now closed for the evening. The sign hanging outside inspired Beair to want to design a business card for his newfound companions, so he made some sketches and took some notes to work on it later. The inside of the shop was pitch dark and after some scouting around, the Club found all of the doors and windows were locked for the night. Beair cast a quick spell to unlock it, after which Tavani transformed into a rat and started sniffing around on the inside, followed by Barros snooping around to get a taller perspective. Eventually they both found themselves at the opposite side of the main room, through which they heard some loud snoring. Barros attempted to quietly open the door but it was a bit squeaky so not quite as quiet as hoped. Fortunately, the figure lying on the bed continued to snore and seemed not to take notice. Unfortunately, there was another figure in the room curled up on a dresser which locked eyes with Barros, a small monkey wearing a vest. The monkey started hooting and hollering, spooking Barros into action who leapt onto the sleeping figure and started shouting for him to wake up and get dressed.    

ALRIGHT TOY MAN, WE'VE GOT YOU!

— Barros

The sleeping figure understandably freaks out until, in the confusion, Barros convincingly tells him they're with the town guard and need to ask him some questions which calmed him down a bit. Barros left the bedroom to give him some privacy as he dressed and rejoined the rest of the Club who had made their way into the main room of the shop after hearing the noise.   Sergei thought the monkey was interesting, noting that its face looked so similar to everyone else's in the party. This kicked off a whole argument about face blindness and grouping mammals all in the same category, until the man from the other room finally entered in a mishmash of pajamas and day-clothes. The party confirmed this was in fact Gadof Blinsky and proceeded to question him about the strange toys they'd been seeing with his name on them all over the valley. Generally they got the vibe that Blinsky was in fact just what he seemed: a toy maker that genuinely wanted to bring joy to lovers of toys. The toys had a somewhat macabre theme but the valley was also quite morose so why not make joy and fun out of something like that?   In particular the party was curious about the doll "Lady", who looked so similar to Ireena. He confirmed that that was very strange as he'd only seen Ireena when she arrived with the party less than a week ago. The dolls were actually a commission from the captain of the guard, Izek Strazni, who had provided a description that he seemed to continuously fail to live up to. Each time Izek rejected a design, Blinsky sold off the toy in his store, so Arabelle must have gotten one of those older versions. Finally, the group asked about the monkey, not an animal they'd seen yet in the valley nor one that seemed native to it. Blinsky introduced him as Piccolo, he'd actually been a gift from a traveling performer he'd befriended nearly a month ago, Esther el Drago. They wrapped up the interview/interrogation and dismissed Blinsky, reassuring him they were working with the town guard as sort of contract investigators who worked off the books. As they left, Barros told Blinsky where they were staying at the Bluewater Inn in case he remembered anything or needed anything investigated.  

Vallaki - Bluewater Inn

The Club returned to the inn for the night and finished up one last checkin, this time with Esther. They caught her up on the events of the night: Bluto and his interaction with Ludmilla which led him to the crazy drowning ritual; the Vistani being unable to ferry them out of the mist and their moving camp. They asked about Mt. Ghakis since they may head that way to meet back up with the Vistani again, Esther didn't know too much about it other than hearing it was home to some dangerous creatures near its peak, though not the werewolves known to skulk in the northwestern end of the valley.   On the premonition from Arabelle they didn't go into the details of the circumstances, but they did ask about some of the content. Regarding an "abbot" and "the house of a saint", Esther responded that while there were two churches named after saints in the valley, only one was strictly speaking an abbey with an "abbot" on staff, the Abbey of St Markovia in Krezk.   Finally, everyone seemed to think there would be something going down at the Festival of the Blazing Sun the next day, especially due to the recent activity of Ludmilla and some smuggled-in vampire spawn. Knowing Esther claimed to be a famed vampire hunter, Sergei asked her to share what she knew about vampire and spawn weaknesses so they could best prepare for the worst, Esther shared everything she knew about fighting these creatures of darkness:

Types

• True Vampires versus Vampire Spawn. Vampirism is a form of undeath rather than what many people believe to be a curse or infection. Vampire spawn are formed by a vampire who drains someone of all of their life using their blood-sucking abilities and can only become vampires after feeding on the blood of a true vampire. Generally these true vampires are more powerful and have command over those they've made into spawn to some extent.

Abilities

• Regeneration. Vampires and spawn have the ability to regenerate slowly as ling as they aren't within a beam of sunlight or within running water. If the takes radiant damage, damage from holy water, or damage from a silvered weapon it seems to suppress this ability for a short period. Vampires seem to posses a more powerful version of this ability.
• Spider Climb. Vampires and spawn can climb difficult surfaces, including upside down on ceilings, as if walking normally.
• Shapechanging. Some vampires (not spawn) can change their forms into creatures like bats, wolves, or mist. The last one in particular seems to be an issue when they've taken too much damage

Weaknesses

• Forbiddance. Vampires and spawn cannot enter a residence without an invitation from one of the occupants and cannot enter a location consecrated against undead.
• Running Water. Vampires and spawn not only stop regenerating, but begin to take damage when standing in running water for too long.
• Stakes to the Heart. Vampires and spawn can be destroyed if a wooden stake is driven into their heart while it is incapacitated in their resting place, often a coffin of some sort.
• Sunlight Hypersensitivity. Vampires and spawn will take damage when exposed to sunlight for too long. The effect also seems to make them a bit befuddled and clumsy

Character(s) interacted with

• Arabelle, Vistani child who had been kidnapped by Bluto
• Luvash, Arabelle's father and co-leader of the Vistani troupe near Vallaki 
• Arrigal, co-leader of the Vistani troupe south of Vallaki
• Gadof Blinsky, Owner of Blinsky's Toyshop
• Esther el Drago, self-proclaimed vampire hunter undercover as a traveling performer