#10: Tales of Vallaki, Pt. 2
General Summary
Still divided up on their personal missions, our Heroes faced another set of trials in Vallaki.
The Tale of Mina
Waking up in Wachter Manor after an evening of being dragged around Vallakovich Manor during the post-Festival of the Blazing Sun feast, Mina Barovonna got to work meeting the other guests living with House Wachter. Quickly, Mina realised the overly large staff of handmaids, grooms, footmen, and the like in the Wachter's employ were actually dressed-down soldiers — a small private army of some 20 men-at-arms — that Fiona Wachter must have amassed for her ambitions on Vallaki. However, compared to the 50 or so troops Vargas Vallakovich could bring to bear, the force would have no hopes in an open confrontation. In addition to these non-notables, Mina met Lord Vasili von Holtz, Esq., a Mistborn rake who had been staying with the Wachters for several years, since he arrived in Barovia. Vasili, Mina learned, was famous for his raucous drinking and partying, getting into all sorts of debauchery, and then disappearing into his private rooms for days or even weeks at a time to recover. Mina held her suspicions on the young Lord, but became distracted with news that Fiona was planning a meeting of her book club — the Friends of Andral — that evening, and sadly Mina was not invited. Mina did, however, manage to take Fiona aside for long enough to convince her to contact her brother — Boyar Lucius Murgu of Macek & Murgu, the main lawbrokers in town — to address a matter of her own ambition. That evening, Mina watched as the Friends gathered and had their meeting. She was introduced to Anhelina Macek, Anhelina Murgu, Rodika Macek, and Eudoxia Fidatov — her first cousin — with only Rodika appearing to take special interest in Mina's surname (sharing a look with Fiona in the process). After the book club met, Lucius arrived, and the study was cleared of everyone bar Rodika, Fiona, and himself, with Mina being invited in as well. There, Mina revealed her lineage — using her family's copy of the Liber Aurorae with its included family tree — to make the claim that Stasia Barovonna (her grandmother) was matrilinearly married to Fyodor Vallakovich (Vargas's father), and that their marriage was never anulled because Stasia was presumed dead. Thus, Mina claimed, Fyodor's subsequent marriage to Eleonora Fidatov was illegal, and Vargas was himself illegitemate, and not of House Vallakovich at all! It appeared that Fiona was already somewhat ready for this revelation, as she had instructed Lucius to bring with him several patents of nobility, and the two marriage certificates of Fyodor. The two lawyers then proceeded to cross examine the evidence, and begin to work on Mina's claim. Mina began to scheme once more with Fiona, attempting to impress upon her that not only could these funds be taken, but that this could be the perfect opportunity to topple House Vallakovich, and perhaps, install Fiona as Burgomeister. Fiona replied with a steadying tone, and touched Stasia's wedding ring — which Mina was wearing — with a gloved hand, suggesting they take their plot slowly. Later that evening, when Mina retired to bed, she noticed a bloody print on her grandmother's ring that much have been left by Fiona...The Tale of Valentina
Valentina Dilisnya began her morning with a proper dawn service to the Morninglord, focusing on showing Father Lucien Petrovich the right way to go about ritual, and giving the congragation — which had swelled to a few dozen — a sense of normalcy. Afterwards, she approached the Father, and raised the subject of a Ritual of Atonement — to be performed by her on him — in the hopes of restoring the Dawnic Church, by way of the Church of St. Andral, in Vallaki. The Father appeared somewhat ashamed by the suggestion, but did not rebuke it, and told her where she may be able to find such a ritual in the undercrofts of the church. Down in the dusty stacks, Valentina discovered thousands of records — mostly detailing births, deaths, and marriages — but also discovered a chest filled with hundreds of petitions from previous Clerics of the Morninglord. The petitions were, in essence, what she did every morning, praying for her miracles to come, but each one was left ignored. Valentina, however, interpretted this as some sort of crisis of faith — evidenced further by the petitions stopping about a century prior — rather than abandonment by the Morninglord Themself. Within the petitions, Valentina found what she was looking for, a fully illuminated ritual scroll to Atone. Taking 20 Drachma from the church's tithe, Valentina spent the rest of her day shopping in Vallaki, looking for the ingredients necessary for the ritual. Though she found the silk vestments and candles with ease, the specific rare incenses she needed were not for sale in the Grey Shambles, forcing her to turn to the Vistani Fetchers camped outside the city walls. She entered their camp near sundown, and was eventually directed to Luvash d'Hoinar, an Elder of their people, whom she immediately identified as the older brother of Arrigal d'Hoinar. Luvash was at first unimpressed with Valentina, but after some discussion about the Morninglord — which he made it clear was not a God of the Vistani — suggested she talk to Casimir de Chihlimbarul, an Amurg Elf who lives at the d'Hoinar Camp south of the city. Luvash asked more questions of Valentina, and she learned that — at least according to him — the Vistani are the native people of Barovia, and that the Morninglord is merely an interloper. He impressed upon her that there were "other powers" in Barovia that she should be more concerned about paying attention to than the absent Morninglord. With her incense, Valentina returned to the Blue Water Inn to confer with her companions...The Tale of Soryn
Soryn d'Nemishcata spent her morning in bed, communing and communicating with Gabhar, her familiar. She spoke with him at length about how he knew Gadof Blinsky, and other individuals around Barovia, and talked in general about his nature and their shared patron. Though Gabhar was unable (rather than merely unwilling) to divulge much about their patron, he was able to describe his nature and in turn how he knew so many people in the region. He described how he had come to the County of Barovia shortly after the Mists first came, and found his way to Yester Hill where a presence — which he assumes is their patron — torn his awareness apart. The pieces of his awareness were then invested into multiple objects around the County, seemingly used as some form of extension of their patron's will. Gabhar himself had never met Blinksy, as he described it, but some part of his awareness had and that meeting returned to him when he was made aware of it. Soryn asked Gabhar if he would want to be reunited with these motes of his own awareness, and he described how even though they were technically "him," he did not feel like awarenesses that had lived lives seperate from his own really counted as himself any more. He did not seem content in his current state, but also did not wish to have memories he didn't technically make jammed back into his mind. The two talked more about the strange nature of Barovia, before Soryn changed tactic and began to commune with the spirits around Vallaki and Lake Zarovich via automatic writing. With her pen in hand, Soryn wrote for herself clues to the whereabouts of the Firebrand, and learned that "she" was holed up in Fidatov Tower, a few hours west of Vallaki. She then asked the spirits about the Tome of Strahd, and learned that it was held by something in the ruins of the village of Berez, down in the Bogs of Berez, accessed via the Luna River. Further, she learned that the area was very perilous, with "many bodies with not a soul among them, and one body with far too many." Soryn's communications had taken her long into the evening, and stopped when she heard Übel Bachmann return to her room next door...The Tale of Übel
Übel Bachmann awoke on the floor of Van der Voort's Coffins, Embalmery and Taxidermy, as Henrik van der Voort was retiring from a long evening of work. The two conversed over a morning cup of tea, during which Henrik told Übel about how he came to County of Barovia about 5 years prior, and how he knew Izek Strazni. Henrik told a story of how the two of them had grown up together, being associates for "decades," and how the two of them stumbled into the Mists at the same time (Henrik fleeing, and Izek in pursuit). Henrik didn't mention why Izek was chasing him, only that he eventually caught him not far from Fidatov Tower, and dragged him back to the Mists. The two were in there for days, and driven almost to madness by them, Henrik managed to draw a flensing knife from his boot and cut himself free of Izek's grasp. Izek's arm, flayed and bleeding, was unable to catch him again and he escaped. He saw Izek again a year later, entering Vallaki, though the man — his arm still bleeding from the wound — did not seem to care that Henrik was there. Übel inspected the flensing blade, and asked also after Henrik's past paramours, suspecting that he might be one of the individuals prophecised in the Fortunes of Ravenloft, but came up empty. Taking the blade with Henrik's consent, Übel left the shop to spy on Izek in the streets of the town. She found him easily enough, and followed him for many hours, seeing generally shaking citizens down, and maintaining the aura of fear around himself. Übel found a perch where she could get close to him, and extended out the flensing knife towards him, hoping for a magical reaction to occur, but was instead startled by a raven cawing loudly from nearby. The raven tried to snatch the shiny flensing blade, and the noise made Izek look up and spot Übel. She tried to hit the raven away, but it flew out of reach, and Izek began climbing the building. Übel slashed down at the Vornic with the blade, slicing off a great sheet of flesh, and causing him to drop back to the ground where in pain he released a bolt of boiling blood from his gory arm. Übel, badly burned by the magic on display, managed to flee over the rooftops, but the cries of the Vallakkers behind her made it obvious they were scared to see the spell. Once the sun had set, Übel tried to return to Henrik's coffin shop, but found the locks had been changed, and Henrik refused to open. Übel pressed the situation, but the undertaker made it clear he need not be distured that evening, so she left to return to the Blue Water Inn. Climbing back in through her and Valentina's window, and joined by Soryn from th enext room, the three of them discussed what had happened that day. Soryn identified a magical pattern to the burns on Übel's body as having an infernal origin, and the trio speculated on the planar location of the County of Barovia itself. Before they all retired to bed, outside in the wider Inn, Ireena Kolyanovich's voice could be heard laughing as she played with Bray Martikov and Brom Martikov, somewhere in the rafters...
Report Date
23 Jan 2025
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