Introduction to Vallaki and some of its Businesses
General Summary
Excerpt from Seir’s Little Black Book (Session 9/17/20): Penned in Borokin’s hand, via dictation
The guards motioned us through the iron gates, but didn’t let us into the town until they had a gander at our weapons. I made no effort to hide mine, and as far as I can tell nobody else did they either. We were also handed some registration papers, which Khaylen handed straight to you, if I recall. You used Zin’s dog as a writing tablet- the mutt didn’t seem to mind. While he was looking through his bag, Thoradin expressed discomfort, as apparently the doll was missing again. I can’t imagine why he’d want the cursed thing. We were directed towards the laws of Vallaki, which I unfortunately could not read. Apparently there’s a law about not being allowed to say the name of the, ahh, evil fellow we’ve been interacting with- we can call him “the devil”, now. Apparently, there are many festivals in Vallaki, which we must take part in. I’m not entirely sure what we need to do, but I’m sure winging it will work out. We dropped off Ireena, and Khaylen and Thoradin began to hound her for money. We got our fifty gold, which was given to me. I distributed some cash for everyone for the inevitable registration fees we’re going to get hit by. We came across a building known as the Blue Water Inn. They appeared to have their own brewing setup, which meant we got to have something besides Red Dragon Crush. Khaylen and Zin quickly guided us through the city streets. We saw the stockyards, as well as some shops (a blacksmith, a toy shop with supposedly brightly painted signage). We passed through the town square just to ensure we weren’t missing out on one of the required festivals. There were a few scattered men and women with plaster donkey heads in the stocks. In the main square, there was a large gray stone statue of a man facing to the west. There were apparently flyers tacked everywhere for some festivals and parties, though I couldn’t read them. Zin and Thoradin bonded over their shared desire to buy some brewing equipment. Letho and Khalyen got in a bit of a tiff over you- you told Khaylen that there was no eye shop for me, and she tried to smack you, but Letho protected you. The townspeople seemed to be keeping an eye on what was happening- hopefully we won’t get in trouble for it. We decided to head off to the blacksmith’s (Dragomir) (we can’t really split up- not enough registration papers for it). The guy was a large, hairy balding man. The area smelled of cheese, and there was a big hunk of it sitting next to his bench. He claims that he made it himself- honestly, it was quite delicious, though a bit strong. He makes his things with a giant hammer, so unfortunately he didn’t have a rapier for me in the back. Thoradin and Khaylen together told him some sob story, making him shed a single tear, which he pushed back into his eye with a single, meaty finger. He gave a discount to Thoradin, who bought some crossbow bolts. “Some” is perhaps an understatement- he got fourty. I happily covered the charge, as every arrow the man puts in an enemy is one that’ll help keep us alive. The man also had a collection of arrowheads. Khaylen asked him about silvering some weapons, which seemed to perk him up a bit. He asked us if we were looking to do some hunting, which may indicate that people enjoy hunting werewolves in this area. Unfortunately, it seems that silvering a weapon is around two hundred gold. Thoradin handed me his dagger, so I suppose now I have a melee weapon, at the least. As we headed out of the store, the blacksmith held our coins by the fire, warming them as if he was trying to change how they looked. I believe our Barovian coins probably aren’t too welcome here. They seem to bear the image of Strahd, which would possibly be an issue. Khaylen offered to take all of our money to the man to ask him to alter our gold for us. Zin didn’t seem to trust her to take the money by herself, and I didn’t want us to split up, so we all did it together. We found another sign for the toy shop along the road to the inn. Letho gave Thoradin a little shit over his little doll. The inn had a nice stone foundation, as well as a sag to its roof. A bunch of ravens stood upon the roof, likely “the devil”’s eyes. The Blue Water Inn apparently had a blue waterfall on its sign, not that I could see it. There was a well outside. We headed on in. There were some people inside, all gathered around tables. It wasn’t terribly busy, but there were definitely some patrons around. Both of the big tables in the center seemed empty. There were a number of fairly ordinary-looking townsfolk and some hooded figures towards the north with travelling cloaks, possibly hunters. Khaylen went up to the bar to ask what types of drinks they served. The bartender had dark hair with a streak of white through it. She commented on our strange crew. Apparently, their wine is supplied by her husband’s family’s vineyard, apparently they supply the whole valley. The brewing equipment outside apparently isn’t in much use due to a lack of supplies (her husband’s brother and father haven’t brought in a shipment in a while). She brought out a “purple grape mash #3” barrel and admitted it was an inferior product, as apparently she was running severely low on product. She admitted that there are tensions between her husband and his family, and her husband has not decided to visit the family. There could be external factors at play, however, preventing them from shipping product. She says that there were other alcohols written about in books, but people don’t make them anymore, as the grains in Barovia aren’t the same as they used to be. Khaylen and I offered to perhaps assist this fine lady with her supply line situation, in return for alcohol and pay. I got you to hand you this book, and she sketched in a map of the area. She offered us rooms, one gold for two rooms. We got two rooms. She called two children, Brey and Brum, to help us with the room. Her name is Danika Martikov. Her two boys, dressed in furs, got in a little scuffle before showing us up to our rooms. We were put up on some rooms by an exterior balcony. The women got a small guestroom with two beds, but the five of us men got to cram into one room, with Letho on his rug. The beds had mattresses of straw, as well as footlockers. The two boys tried to get us all settled, and gave one person from each group (Khaylen and I) a key. We talked about what we were going to do next. Khaylen didn’t want to talk in our room, as she said it was a bit smelly. Our plan is to check the general store and apothecary in the morning. We would like to go to Cresk, but it was pointed out that we likely don’t have enough money to convince someone to heal us. It seems that we will head to Cresk, get a quote on the healing job, and then if it’s too expensive deal with the wine errand on our way back (the winery is about eight hours from Vallaki, while Cresk is around 4-6 hours from the winery). We went downstairs again to mess around a bit before going to bed. Letho asked the hunters if there were any good places to go sightseeing. Zin paid double price for some purple mash. The hunters told Letho there’s nothing worth seeing in this area, not seeming to pick up how amusing his joke about his blindness was. They told him the area is a bit too dangerous for a man like him. Letho told them he can’t be excited unless he’s in mortal danger. The response? “I can respect that.” The hunters told him the mountains are scarier than the forests, but the scariest thing one can see in this area is a pack of wolves. The hunter introduced himself as Szoldar and his friend as Yfginni (the man couldn’t introduce himself, as he had no functioning tongue). The men offered to have their services purchased as guides (rate: 3 gold a day). Letho asked them where it would be worth going. They all seemed to get in a really exciting many circlejerk. Somehow we started talking about big goats. Perhaps I should compose something about this. Letho started offering to hire them. I probably should have stopped him from spending the party’s money, but I think I somewhat adore these men and would appreciate their company. Zin and Khaylen want to talk to some people on the other side of the bar. They bought mugs of the weird purple mash for eight copper each and tried to make some conversation, looking for shop recommendations. Apparently there is a clothing shop in the town square. She was somewhat flirtatious. It was all so absurd that I laughed a bit- honestly, this whole visit in the inn has been a wonderful mood-lifter. Apparently, the stockyard is full of storage sheds, full of the goods belonging to people who left stuff there but then went off and died. Apparently we can pay for some of these sheds and find some stuff that was left behind. This guy that Khaylen was talking to apparently had an item that he picked up from one of these sheds that had originally belonged to her (a Vistani trade route map).
Report Date
08 Nov 2022
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