Session 6 Report

Setting out for their second day in Vallaki, the party decided to make good on their promise to the Baron. The party split up in the manor, some staying in the kitchen to chop turnips, some helping weave the large wicker sun, and Martyn and Kyler decided to go and spend some time with Victor, who was, unsurprisingly, mad as ever. Martyn promised to buy him some chalk before leaving, hoping to make his circle less lethal. Upon making their way downstairs, they stopped to check in on Udo. However, to their shock, he was gone, and there were signs of the lock being broken from the outside. After concluding with aid for the festival preparations, they head back to St Andral’s church, hoping to find Millivoj. They did so, and after some light interrogation from Magnus, he admitted that he had dug them up for Henrik Van Der Voort, the coffin maker, because he needed the money to feed his starving family. They decided to pursue this lead, heading across the town to Van Der Voort’s shop.
En route, they passed through the town square. They saw peasants going about their business, and a few locked in stocks with plaster donkey heads. A very large, imposing man with a twisted, demonic hand arrived with a few guards, changing the posters for the previous festival (the wolf’s head jamboree) to the current one (the festival of the blazing sun). They deduced this to be Izek Strazni, the right hand man and enforcer of the Baron’s rule.
Upon arriving at the coffin shop, they found the windows and doors boarded up tight. Henrik, who did appear to be inside, refused to open the door. After a bit of brute force, they managed to break entry into the shop. Henrik, terrified, did not put up any resistance, and told them he had been fooled by a vampire called Vasilia Von Holtz. She turned his attic into a nest for some vampire spawn, and ordered him to steal St Andral’s bones. He claimed they were upstairs, with the spawn.
Rather than charge headfirst into fighting vampires themselves, the party decided to send Martyn to fetch Izek. Izek headed upstairs by himself, and dealt with the spawn, and returned downstairs with the bones and barely any injury. He escorted the party back to the Baron, who allowed them to take the bones back to the church, much to the delight of Father Lucian.
Deciding to take up Lady Wachter’s offer, they made their way to Wachterhaus, where they were warmly welcomed inside for dinner. Wachter quickly cut to the chase, lambasting the incompetence of the Baron, and stating her intention to overthrow him. She offered that if they dispatched Izek, she could seize power with the backing of the villagers, and Vallaki would remain loyal and in the party’s debt. However, the party had their reservations; Wachter seemed rather forgiving towards Strahd and vampires as a whole, claiming Strahd was not the tyrant people claim her to be. Rather, she seemed inclined to believe that Strahd was merely a scapegoat for the anger and resentment of Barovians.
The party said they would consider her proposal, and she retired to the drawing room, giving them free reign of the house. They decided to poke around upstairs, where they discovered a few unusual things. This included a secret cupboard in the library, which they obtained access to by finding a key on the collar of one of the many (very hostile) cats in the room. Inside they found a letter to one of Wachter’s ancestors from Lord Vasili Von Holtz, and a book advocating devil worship.
Just down the hall, Kyler noticed a strange scratching from behind a locked door. They attempted speaking to whoever was behind it, and a very unusual girl responded. Though the voice was clearly from a humanoid, the girl referred to herself in third person as “Little Kitty”. Deciding they had already had sufficient strangeness for the day, the party didn’t investigate any further.
Unfortunately for them, the strange occurrences had only just begun. They picked the lock of another door, and found themselves in the master bedroom. Shockingly, they weren’t quite alone; a freshly preserved corpse lay on the bed, looking strikingly like the man from a painting on the wall (which depicted a man and a woman, two young boys and a young girl).
Most of the party wanted to leave, but Edwyn pushed to stay and investigate further. He found a small locked box, and despite backlash from the others, decided to pick the lock. Inside he found some old bones, as well as a leather bound tome. Inside seemed to be a diary entry from Strahd herself detailing her history, and how she became a vampire. Taking the tome, the party left Wachterhaus, intending on heading back to the Blue Water Inn to rest.
However, their walk through town was interrupted by the screams of frightened peasants fleeing to their homes. Upon following the spice of the commotion to the town square, they encountered a tiger wearing half plate armour stalking the streets. Before they could do anything, a panicked Rictabio burst into the square. He promised the party that the tiger wouldn’t hurt anyone, and implored them for their aid, asking them to distract Izek so he could lure the tiger back to his wagon and make his escape through the northern gate.
The party agreed and sent Izek in the wrong direction, then made their way to meet Rictavio at the gates. He thanked them, and gave them some confusing parting advice- “you can trust the ravens. They are good” and “don’t trust the Vistani”. Promising to meet them again on the road, Rictavio fled Vallaki and the party returned to the Blue Water Inn to rest.
Upon their return to the tavern, the party discussed the possibility of whether or not the “tyrant” Strahd could be less evil than some claimed. Their discussion was interrupted by a voice ringing out in their heads; Strahd herself telling the characters to ‘come and find out for yourselves’.