Act 2, Scene 3: The Vallaki Vistani Camp

Having dealt with their pet cultist, our heroes approached the Vallaki Vistani camp, its hill rising out of the mist, dusk elf residences dotting the hillside, each one guarded by a single guard.

At the top of the hill, they passed by a pair of women helping an elderly Vistani gentleman to the edge of the camp to pee, and were directed to Arrigal or Luvash. Finding Arabelle once again speaking to what turned out to be her uncle Arrigal, who welcomed them to the camp but warned it may be a rowdy night, as they were drinking what little wine remained to them as the regular winery delivery was late. The party replied that they intended to remedy that situation soon, which seemed to endear them to Arrigal, who led them into the main tent to meet his brother Luvash, the leader of the camp.

Luvash said they were welcome to stay as long as they liked, and sleep in the tent or one of the wagons, if they so desired. With the knowledge that dinner was still some time away, they went over to Manda, who they'd spotted at one of the cooking fires. They asked where they might be able to clean up before settling in for the night, and she told them to go find her wagon and get Rudolph to lead them to the nearby stream.

With Arabelle steadily trailing them from a distance, they found their exuberant young friend, who happily led them to the stream to get cleaned up, though he seemed confused by the absence of Ireena and Ri-An — Ri-An, of course, still disguised as a man. Assuring him they'd explain everything in time, he was eventually guided away from the rest of the group by Sylvain to give the ladies some privacy. Rudolph expressed a reluctance to leave them unattended in the woods, cementing the suspicions they had that the Vistani had some manner of protection other Barovians did not.

After an initial few minutes of exposure to Rudolph's train-of-thought rambling, Sylvain attempted to redirect his energy by asking him about the Dusk Elves. In return he received a story perhaps more memorable than he'd bargained for: long ago, the Dusk Elves had crossed Strahd by killing one of their own, a woman who Strahd had been courting, and in retaliation Strahd had killed every female Dusk Elf, children included. He had doomed them to a long, slow genocide, as the remaining male Dusk Elves lived out their remaining centuries knowing they were the last of their kind. As a mark of their shame, the remaining male elves had severed the tops of their ears.

Still, Rudolph suggested their leader, Kasimir Velikov, would likely want to speak to them, and suggested they see Celegal Uvarov about any bows and arrows they might have an interest in. He also confided in Sylvain about his latest project: a still he and his brother Atanasie had been working on in order to produce a foreign drink called "vodka."

Returning to the main tent with the worst of the gore washed away, the party reconnected with their Vistani friends and set about making some new ones. Ri-An, though disappointed that Lech was nowhere to be seen, met his hat-making brother Grigori, and commissioned a hat from him. Sometime after dinner, the party heard many wolves howling in the distance, and shortly after a new arrival came to the camp: a battered, bloody, sooty Ispati, who had been attacked by wolves while bringing the party what belongings they'd left behind in Vallaki. After settling in with some food and wine, Ispati reported on what had happened in Vallaki since they'd fled earlier. Much of the town had still been, when he left, in flames, as the mobs had moved on from the town square and rampaged through the town. The inn was almost certainly gone, as the lingering scent of smoke on their bags could attest. Both the Wachter family and Vallakovich family seemed to be fully extinct, though no one could say for sure where the burgomaster's son had gone. They'd even burned down the brothel, though the Reformation Centre still stood.

As the evening wore on, some of the party noticed several Vistani paying close attention to them from around the tent, including Arrigal. However, none of them made any move to insert themselves into the party's conversation, and it wasn't long before Ri-An announced to the tent as a whole that Sylvain would be telling the lot of them a story: the story of what had happened in Vallaki. Quickly realizing that this was Ri-An's attempt at revenge for what they perceived as Sylvain having broken multiple rules — between his mysterious revivification after the fireball and his diving into the mob to take a captive rather than fleeing to safety — Sylvain nevertheless obliged, telling the gruesome tale to a suddenly much quieter tent. Not all who heard the sombre story seemed troubled, however: several Vistani, including Arrigal, looked rather pleased to hear of Vallaki's misfortunes.

Unsurprising, given the town's policy on refusing entry to any of their number.

The rest of the evening was relatively subdued, at least among the party. While the Vistani revelled in the last of their wine, they nursed their injuries and took their rest, trying to recuperate before whatever the rest of the day brought. While keeping watch, Bodaway heard a child's scream in the night, but after a brief discussion, he, Ri-An, and Osrin decided to tell Ayduin and leave it for the morning.

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