St. Andrew's Church

A centuries-old stone church on the eastern edge of Vallaki, dedicated to the Morning Lord — the same faith as the Church of the Morning Lord in the village of Barovia, though this building is larger, more intact, and was, until recently, better protected.

Description

Slouching and old, with a bulging steeple at the back and walls lined with cracked stained-glass windows depicting pious saints. A garden of gravestones enclosed by wrought-iron fencing occupies the space beside the church, with thin mist threading among the graves. The building itself is functional if weary.

The Crypt

Beneath the chapel floor, accessible by prying up floorboards, lies a crypt that held the bones of St. Andrew. These bones gave the church its protection against Strahd's incursion — his influence could not easily enter the building while they were present. Several nights ago, the floorboards were pried up and the bones were stolen. Father Lucian replaced the boards and has told no one.

Without the bones, the church offers no special protection against Strahd.

Staff and Residents

• Father Lucian Petrovich — priest; has been managing the theft quietly
• Yeska — orphaned altar boy; confessed to inadvertently revealing the bones' location to Milovaj
• Milovaj — teenage altar boy; prime suspect in the theft; currently missing

History

St. Andrew was a paladin of the Morning Lord. In the early days of the church, an angel in the form of a raven delivered the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind to St. Andrew, which he used to fight vampires. This connects the church directly to the Keepers of the Feather's founding mythology and to the Taroka prophecy.

First Visited

Session 10 — party brought Ireena Kolyana there seeking shelter; learned the bones were gone