Session Five: What once would protect seems to have lost... all effect...
General Summary
Upon their arrival back to Vallaki, Bite Club decide to investigate the church, as it was previously described as being the reason this town is warded from the undead. If Xaethriell's hunches were indeed correct, something must be amiss...
Their suspicions are quickly proven fruitful. Father Lucian stands at the head of the alter with an air of caution and obvious fear. His initial response is to point the finger at innocent Lysette, who had previously questioned not only the relic's design- but also if it was growing weaker. Having had these foreigners appear to question him, leave the town overnight when suddenly such a relic is removed, it felt far to coincidental not to accuse the Aasimar of such a crime. However, with alibis as the blue water inn, he begs her forgiveness and confides what had happened to the rest of the party.
Lucian claims that he had a vision overnight from The Morninglord, who informed him directly that all that they held sacred had now been taken from them. He confessed that he would be forever in debt to the party if they could recover the Bones of St. Andral, beginning with the lead that young Yeska, his alter boy, was the sole other who was aware of their location.
Yeska had very little short term memory of the past few hours, however did divulge that he'd passed the information onto his friend, though refused to give further information as to whom. The boy simply pointed through the window, gesturing that his companion must be outside somewhere. Additionally, he confided that his friend was running on hard times financially and that the bones might be a good source of gold.
Similarly, Milijov has an equally as distorted recollection of recent events. He is found in the graveyard, restoring a patch that he claims had been disturbed overnight. He was outwardly hostile to the group, going so far as to retaliate a swing from Blaidd who disliked his attitude more-so than the rest of Bite Club. Yeska's story checked out: Milijov was attempting to provide for the rest of his young family, who were forced into starvation in the slums. This was openly the source of his poor approach to communication. He'd been approached by Vallaki's coffin maker, who had been eavesdropping the conversation from afar, and was offered a significant lump sum for the retrieval, and ultimately, the theft of the bones.
Additionally, Xaethriell opted to investigate the grave which had allegedly been disturbed. He accidentally happened upon a pure sunbeam which had protruded the skies and shone directly upon the head of this grave, dealing him significant harm upon contact. As the party clerics noticed the same ray, they also discovered, once ttheir hands were placed beneath it, that their markings had began to glow with a mildly inconvenient heat. Nobody opted to pay it any mind.
Before exploring Milijov's lead, the party revisited Father Lucian to inquire the whereabouts of someone fitting the description of a coffin maker. Was there more than one? Did he have a store local to/in Vallaki? How often would he come to the grounds? Lucian explained that he worked alone, was a crabby old man with little care for others who gave him no business. He usually delivered his work personally, or in extreme circumstances with the aid of the Burgomaster's henchman, a man by the name of Izek. In this interaction, Father Lucian also explained the origins of the Morninglord, as per Mordecai and Lysette's request. They showed him the sigil that had been branded onto their palms overnight, something revealed to be the crest of their lord. By recorded legend the Morninglord in collaboration with Mother Night created day. Their blessings could not exist one without the other- and the two were inseparable in scripture.
Satisfied with their fill of newly discovered religious knowledge, Bite Club, with the directional aid of the locals, traversed Vallaki to their next location. Upon closer inspection it was clear that the store had been barricaded from the inside out. Their polite attempt at knocking confirmed that their suspect had trapped himself behind poorly fashioned wooden planks, possibly in attempt to keep others out, or even that which remained inside from leaving. Of course, breaking in appeared to be the most logical answer.
The coffin maker was on a mission from the count. Strahd had infiltrated Henrik's store with the intention of asking him to personally rid the church of their relic, as having their coffin maker traverse the grounds wouldn't in any way appear suspicious. He'd begun using his attic as a lair for six vampire spawn, who Bite Club elected to ignore due to Henrik's hostility and reluctance to allow them entry in the first place. He revealed that he no longer has possession of the bones, as they were purchased only a few hours ago by a man that he refused to name. The party, through the process of elimination and simple closed questions, deduced the following:
The customer was tall, frighteningly so.
He was well built and would be easily able to kill him if he pleased.
He was a guard.
Blaidd concluded that the individual in question must be the previously named "Izek". Where to find him, however, eluded them. Luckily, the eldest Martikov boy had been watching them from the skies in attempt to learn what budding 'heroes' do with their free time. Brom revealed himself and pushed to learn what new mission these adventurers had found, with little success. However in exchange for limited knowledge (as well as two gold pieces, one up front and one on delivery), the boy was offered the chance to survey the skies on their behalf and search for the guard that they had no clue how to locate otherwise. Bite club figured that having a birds eye view of Vallaki would certainly be a faster approach as opposed to wandering aimlessly through the streets alone. A good alternative, however, the concept of passing this mission onto a child made some of the party question their sanity. They were directed back to The Blue Water Inn, where Brom would deliver unto them their desired information.
Izek had been stationed at the markets that afternoon. Urwin's firstborn was surprised with a doubled down payment from Mordecai for his work, after he revealed that he broke into the Burgomaster's mansion to sneak a peak at the henchman's schedule and had returned without a trace. This gave Bite Club enough initiative to take matters back into their own hands and scout out this infamous Izek.
Lysette was chosen to approach the (to put it kindly) rather deformed guard. With a hand inflamed to quadruple it's original size and some ungodly combination of flame, ash and flesh coating the protruding limb, Izek's intimidating demeanor was topped off by his sheer height coming just shy of 7 foot. This humanoid being fit their descriptions rather perfectly, and Lysette's "female charm" was implied to aid them better than the prowess of intimidation ever could. She discovered rather quickly, however, that he was far more disturbing than frightening. He fixated on the identity of what he claimed to be the "woman of his dreams" and had purchased the bones after a recurring dream that they'd make the perfect building material for fashioning new dolls of her. The local toy-maker, Blinsky, had the honor of creating these masterpieces in order to fuel Izek's sick fantasies. He'd promised to have one done every couple of hours, and had been working with the material for the past four. Bite club knew that they had little time to waste. They needed to halt the alteration of this relic before any more could be tarnished.
Naturally, Blinsky was reluctant to give up the bones, even after the party had informed him that they were in fact stolen goods. At first, he tried to play off that he'd been paid 100gp upfront for their modification, although his lies didn't hold up. The toy-maker confessed that Izek, on multiple occasions, had threatened to burn his shop to the ground if he didn't continue to create these dolls for free, and that a fate worse than death would become him for being non-compliant. He turned a blind eye to the group making demands to retrieve them. However, he made it very clear that if the henchman came looking for his dolls and nothing were to be found, Bite Club could do nothing to buy his silence.
Finally, our party had retrieved what they'd set out to find on behalf of St Andral's church. What they didn't expect, however, was to be turned away at the door by the very man who'd given them the quest in the first place. Father Lucian explained that he had endured another vision. The Morninglord had informed him mere moments before their arrival that the bones had been tarnished beyond repair, and that a fresh sacrifice would be required to serve as Vallaki's new warding relic. As a devout follower of his god, Lucian confessed that he would be honored to walk that path, and that his daughter, Fiona, would watch over the establishment in his absence. If there were to be any hope of restoring that dormant power within the bones, they should be taken to The Village of Barovia and buried within the desolate church there. That outcast village was said to be the birthplace of Andral. By returning them to their roots, perhaps they would recover what was lost. Lysette showed Lucian the form that the current relic had been transmuted into: "Tatyana", he spoke, and dismissed the party before returning to the church, empty handed, and locking the door from the inside.
Bite Club retreat with the bones, dumbfounded. They chose to speak with Urwin in hopes of finding out what he knew about traversing the mists in order to arrive at the Village of Barovia. He was unable to justify in his mind that this advise would come directly from their priest, one of the Morninglord's chosen, to simply abandon a set of relics that by Urwin's recount, would still be fully functional despite their appearance. He asked them again, after a moment of recollecting his history with The Keepers, "Are you certain that it was Father Lucian you were speaking with?"
Urwin reveals that if legends are true: Strahd is a powerful shapechanger. If anything in the slightest was off about the church and their grounds-keep, the party must voice it now in hopes of discovering the truth. They suddenly remembered the grave- an impossibility of the sun shining through the obscured skies of Barovia, a message from The Morninglord, perhaps? Mordecai insisted on pressing Urwin's knowlege on their deity, however Lysette urges they may have little time.
Milijov is absent on this visit and the grave is left unguarded, or so our party thought... Three vampire spawn who had been lying in wait until their hour of triumph suddenly ambushed them, advancing the clock which spelled Vallaki's downfall. The sunbeam grew ever fainter with every passing second. Bite Club had intended to bury the bones in this plot of land for hope of restoring the ward, however they didn't account for the very familiar legs that weakly thrashed from within: those belonging to Father Lucian. Blaidd noticed immediately that the man wasn't in pain- he was suffocating, and had possibly been there for hours already. So the priest they'd been communing with this entire time?
None other thanthe Count Strahd Von Zarovitch...
His spawn were defeated and the party took a few breaths of relief. Those breaths, however, were short lived...
In the distance, the mists of surrounding graves became sentient, howling with the might of a rampaging hurricane and swirling around nothing in particular. All of a sudden, a figure took form from within, that of Lucian, whose flesh had begun to dissolve in the gales as though it were made of pure acid. A smirk never died upon his lips. In place of the Father stood someone only familiar to Cedar: a man of tall stature, bruised, purple skin and skeletal fingers which outstretched toward Xaethriell. He spoke only two words, though they resonated through the graveyard as though they were spoken into their very minds for all to hear:
