Act 1, Scene 12: Vallaki: Recovery

The final scene of our first act began with our heroes' fitful dreams. Ri-An was visited by Fekre, Queen of Poxes, eager to make a deal and none too pleased when Ri-An told her where to go. After a bit of disbelieving, derisive bargaining, she promised Ri-An that when they die, their soul will be trapped in Barovia for all of eternity, and disappeared.

That night, Ayduin didn't dream. But Bodaway did — given a choice between a sky full of stars and a grey wasteland, he chose the wasteland, passing undead figures whose empty eyes lit on him only to move on a moment later. He came to a tower and ascended — not to the top, but to the floor he was meant to reach. For the second time in 24 hours, he received a vision from the Raven Queen. You see a half-elf woman, tall and finely muscled, who carries herself with the brutal grace of someone who has learned to use her body as a weapon. She is speaking to a beautifully radiant elven man, who opens his arms to her in welcome; you can tell from the unnatural quality of the light and movement that you are witnessing someone’s dream. He speaks soothing words to her, promising that he can help her defend those she loves, those she has found herself trapped with in a terrible place. She accepts his gift, and her eyes glow with a strange, white-gold light. You see her again, a few more scars to her name. She takes a diamond and thrusts it into the chest of a human wearing some sort of holy robes. She chants words that she should not know; her eyes are much paler now, golden. The woman gasps, drawing breath, colour flooding back into her cheeks. You see what the half-elf does not: that as life re-enters her, she bears a mark, white-gold, a radiant doom. You see her once more, and her eyes are white-gold, pearlescent and pupilless. She is smiling, and it is an ugly thing; you can see the woman she revived before running towards her, calling out for her to stop, but she pays no mind. A fallen man — a farmer by the looks of him, brutalized by wolves judging by the gashes — lies before her. She takes a diamond and plunges it into his chest; he draws breath, and his wounds close enough to keep him conscious, and once again you see the little white-gold dot hovering by him, invisible to all but you, marking him as no longer his own. One by one, our heroes awoke. Ayduin was first, and he flipped through My Rebellious Heart, getting the broad strokes of the plot before turning his attention to the book on the Order of the Silver Dragon. He managed to glean that the order was founded by a mysterious figure named Argynvost, who brought knights from all over to join his order, but not much further before Ri-An awoke, borrowing Ayduin's copy of My Rebellious Heart and starting a more thorough read-through than their friend had undertaken. Sylvain and Osrin were the next to awake, and Sylvain learned that Ri-An was reading through the book to attain instruction in the finer points of diplomacy. However, as Ri-An confided in a whisper a moment later: they thought it very likely that the lead character wanted to kiss one of the male characters.

A quick game of "pile things on the back of the sleeping ranger with a Passive Perception of 19" was played, and was over about as fast as you'd expect it to be. Sylvain suggested he and Ayduin pop downstairs to see how everyone else had fared, and received a grim report: some of the vampires had come back, wreaking more havoc and killing another six people. In total, 21 people died during the Feast of St. Andral's, though only a handful of those casualties were guards. Still, as Danica pointed out, when your town has a total of 24 guards, losing four in one night is a heavy blow. Giving vague descriptions fitting the Half-Elf, the Scootcher, and Big Chin, Danica answered what questions she could, and promised she'd keep an ear open for more information.

So they returned upstairs, with the promise of breakfast to come soon, and waited for Bodaway to awaken.

When he did, the grim task fell to his companions to tell him what had happened: the dead, the final theft of the bones, Vasili's true identity, and Ireena's absence. Furious and sick, Bodaway threw up out a window and quietly raged. The group took turns telling their disparate parts of the evening, with Sylvain leaving out the small matter of his resurrection and the deal he'd made. While Ireena may have bought our heroes some time with her latest bargain, they agreed that now more than ever they needed to find a way to destroy Strahd. What may have begun as a necessary key to their freedom had long since gotten personal.

I mean he got Ri-An's dog killed. This is how John Wick starts, Strahd, you fucking egg, you absolute ignoramus, how could you possibly have thought this was a good idea. Gods.

It was agreed that, for the moment at least, they should lay low and not catch the sight of any particularly bloody-minded guards. Sylvain drew out a map of the secret escape route Danica had shown him, and said he and Ayduin would sneak over to the church to tell the priest what had happened. Bodaway had a few tasks to undertake, and promptly began fumigating their room, while Ri-An and Sylvain went downstairs to ask the proprietors whether or not they might be able to assist Ri-An in properly mourning Grghshnq. A dishevelled-looking Urwin suggested the stables, currently empty, might be a good place for Ri-An to work, and asked for an hour to help prepare the area and ensure nothing too flammable was laying about.

Sylvain and Ayduin made their way to the church, while Osrin made her way to Rictavio's room, interrupting his much-needed long rest to catch up. Rictavio filled in a few of the gaps left by Danica's summary — it had indeed been the Half-Elf and Big Chin who had come to the Scootcher's aid, and if it hadn't been for that he might have succeeded in killing her. Faced with three vampires after one fight that had already left him wounded, however, he had to flee, and had made a hasty retreat back to the inn to lick his wounds. When asked about his plans, he expressed much the same intentions as our heroes: to stay the hell out of sight and hope the burgomaster didn't latch onto him as a convenient person to blame for the night's events.

Meanwhile, Sylvain and Ayduin made their way to the church without issue, finding a face familiar to one of them standing guard in Father Petrovich's room: the woman who'd belatedly come to their aid the night before. Though she was disinclined to let them disturb the wounded priest, eventually she relented, and they delivered the bad news to Father Petrovich.

He was sorry to hear their tale, but assured them that there was no shame for them in how the night had gone. When faced with a powerful enemy who has had many centuries to make his plans, who has no reason to fear death, there is no shame in losing a battle. As for what would come of it: hope for the best, but prepare for the worst. He thanked them both for their attempt, and they glumly made their way back to the Blue Water Inn.

Back at the inn, Ri-An disassembled and reassembled Grghshnq's component parts, looking to create an urn adequate to honour their loyal companion, fallen far too soon. Bodaway constructed a smokebomb, fighting off his cravings for pie once again. Osrin and Sylvain attempted to eavesdrop with little success, while Ayduin finished the book on the Order of the Silver Dragon. He learned that the order was founded in a time before Barovia was cut off from the rest of the world, and that its knights had come from lands beyond Barovia's borders. They had come, it was said, to fight a great evil that threatened the land, but one by one they fell to tragedy, becoming little more than legend. One key point he took away: the location of the order's stronghold did indeed seem to match up with what Danica had told them of the nearby haunted house, said to be home to a dragon.

Finishing up his smokebomb, Bodaway began to construct a ball, writing a note for Felix in the pauses between steps. Finally, Ri-An came to the others, bearing an intricate urn, saying it was time. Our heroes followed their youngest member downstairs and out through the kitchen door, waiting until the coast was clear before making their way to the back of the inn, gathering in a circle to pay tribute to their fallen companion. So the first act of our story closed, each one grieving, the majority of them on the verge of nervous meltdowns, grabbing a stolen moment out of sight of the guards to try to mourn, to begin to put together the pieces of their lives and, as Ri-An had done with the pieces of Grghshnq, to forge something new of them — something better suited to weather the dark days ahead.

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