20th September - A Drink, A Meal and A Show
General Summary
Finally, within the safety of the walls of Vallaki, the party makes their way through the quiet and dark streets. Vidar notices that they are being followed and bravely turns to confront their stalker, who runs off as soon as he is confronted.
Lars, taking the lead, pilots them to a large, two-story wooden building, with grey smoke coming from the chimney and several ravens perched upon it's roof. A painted wooden sign hanging above the main entrance depicts a blue waterfall.
An old married couple, Danika and Urwin Martikov, greet the party as they enter the Blue Water Inn. The Martikovs introduce themselves and are quite hospitable to the first-time visitors of Vallaki; however, the length of Urwin's generosity causes them to quibble amongst themselves.
Scanning the patrons inside, Lar's attention is drawn to a pair of men who are grim and have haunted looks in their eyes, Szoldar Szoldarovich and Yevgeni Krushkin, local hunters who kill wolves and sell the meat for a living.
An exhausted Vidar haggles with the owners for a room so that he can retire for an early night in. A charismatic and colorfully dressed half-elf seizes the opportunity to earn some coin and good favour. From the top of the table, he regales everyone with a comedic story about Count Belasco. He gives a stellar performance; using voices and exaggerated movements, holding the attention of everyone in the room from the beginning to the end of the story of a vampire who was foiled by his vanity, holding the attention of everyone in the inn right until the end.
After the performance, the half-elf joins the table with the remaining party members and introduces himself as Rictavio. After introducing himself, he shares that he is a carnival ringmaster and had been travelling long and far in search of new acts for his circus before somehow ending up in Barovia, but he's working to make the most of it. Inquisitively, he begins to ask a series of questions about each person at the table, their history, and where they hail from, raising suspicions as he does so. Realising that he may have overstayed his welcome, Rictavio bids everyone a farewell and heads off to bed.
Ricatio's attempt to escape is momentarily halted by a pair of brash drunkards, Nikolai and Karl Wachter, who harass Rictavio for another story, this time about a stupid baron. Their feeble attempts at humour cause an eerie hush in the common room, but they pay no attention to the rest of the patrons. Without invitation, the Wachters brothers move over to join the adventurers at their table, but their drunken antics are not tolerated by any of the weary travellers, so they leave.
Lars had used this opportunity to slip outside as well ... but to what end, no one quite knows.
Report Date
20 Sep 2024
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