Session 11 — The Shit Wizard's Diplomatic Triumph

Session 11 — The Shit Wizard's Diplomatic Triumph

Merich covered himself in horse manure and rolled a natural 20. This is now canon.

What Happened

The Vistani Camp — Dusk Elves. Merich and Celeste descended toward the camp through a patch of fog-wrapped woods. The camp resolved into a grass-covered hill with low houses built into its sides, decorative carved woodwork, sculpted lanterns, and the general atmosphere of somewhere that had made peace with its situation and wasn't happy about it. At the top of the hill, above the fog, a ring of barrel-topped wagons surrounded a large, brightly lit tent smelling of wine and horses. The smell was not metaphorical.

Three men stood outside the first house at the base of the hill: dark-skinned, dark-haired, cloaked, and possessing the angular features of wood elves without being wood elves. A History roll identified them — with inspiration spent — as Dusk Elves. A subspecies believed effectively extinct in the outside world. Apparently they had been here the whole time.

Inside the house, Casimir sat by a fire looking grim and holding a very large dagger. He was guarded by Dusk Elves, not Vistani — a distinction he was happy to explain. His people had come to the Vistani camp over a century ago under a kind clan leader named Belikov, who had taken them in as refugees. Belikov's descendants are not Belikov. The current Vistani who run this camp are aligned with Strahd and keep the Dusk Elves here — sheltered and imprisoned in the same arrangement, as captive audience and watching enemy. Casimir expects to outlive this generation of jailers. He was speaking with someone who couldn't be seen while he said it. Merich noticed. Celeste did not.

The Dusk Elves had not seen Milovaj. People from Vallaki do not generally come to the camp unless they need something, and they send one designated person down; they don't wander. Casimir directed the party uphill toward Luvash if they wanted more information from the Vistani proper.

The Vistani Camp — The Tent. The hilltop was covered in horse dung and tethered draft horses and the general infrastructure of a working camp that had recently become mostly empty. The main tent was occupied.

Through the tent flap: six Vistani passed out in various locations. A barely conscious shirtless teenager bound to the central tent pole with rope, back streaked with blood. A large man in studded leather applying a horse whip. A second large man saying easy, brother, I think Alexei has learned his lesson.

Merich charged in and grabbed for the whip. An Athletics roll of four meant he found the floor instead. The second man put a boot on his chest and said who the fuck are you. A Persuasion roll of 23 meant this was a recoverable situation. Celeste arrived immediately afterward with a cover story involving a "special boy" who had gotten loose. A Deception roll of 19. Both men were skeptical. They were shown the door.

Outside, Merich considered his options. His options included covering his face in horse manure from the abundant supply nearby, loosening his armor, and re-entering as a completely different person named Viggo. He rolled a natural 20 on Deception, plus 8. The result was a 28. A completely different person walked back into the tent.

Viggo was from a cottage on Lake Zarovich. He had once been visited by a bird that might have been Strahd. He was a man of great wealth, potentially. He was dirty in a way that the Vistani, surrounded by horses, found entirely plausible. The two large men — who turned out to be brothers named Luvash and Arigal, with Luvash being the one who had done the whipping — tolerated him, then poured wine into his cupped hands when he asked to drink, which he did without hesitation, which apparently sealed the deal.

The whipping was explained. Luvash's seven-year-old daughter Arabelle had gone missing more than a day ago. Alexei had been responsible for watching her and had not watched her well enough. Arabelle had possibly gone in the direction of Lake Zarovich, which was convenient for Viggo's backstory. Luvash asked Viggo, as a man very familiar with that lake, to search it. In return: potions that allow non-Vistani to pass through the mists of Barovia.

This is a significant offer. The mist only allows Vistani to pass freely. A potion that extends that permission to outsiders would be the closest thing the party has ever seen to an exit from Barovia.

Merich accepted, cleaned off, and left.

Blinsky's Toy Shop. Brother Moro and Sable Burrowbane found the toy shop directly south of the Blue Water Inn: a cramped storefront with a rocking-horse sign bearing the motto Is No Fun, Is No Greenski and dirty arched windows full of jumbled merchandise. Sable rolled a 1 on Perception looking through the window. The glass had opinions. She went inside.

Blinsky was behind the counter in a moth-eaten jester's cap, tinkering. A monkey in a custom-tailored ballerina tutu was leaping around the shop. He recited his welcome slogan without looking up, then actually registered that he had customers and expressed something resembling delight.

The merchandise included, at nine copper each: a headless doll with a selection of attachable heads (one with mouth and eyes stitched shut), a miniature gallows with a working trapdoor and weighted hanged man, nesting dolls where each inner layer is older until the innermost is a mummified corpse, hanging wooden bats with flapping wings, a wind-up merry-go-round with wolves chasing children instead of horses, and a Strahd von Zarovich ventriloquist dummy.

Also present, not for sale: a doll made to the order of Isaac, henchman of the Baron. It looked remarkably like Ireena Kolyana.

Nine copper and Sable's ears deployed in their most appealing configuration produced the following intelligence: Milovaj had been in the shop a week or so ago, with more money than the average Barovian child, and bought a wind-up merry-go-round as a gift. More recently, Blinsky had noticed Milovaj spending an unusual amount of time at Henrik's coffin shop in the southeastern part of town, which is suspicious because there have been no deaths recently.

Brother Moro asked Blinsky to send Milovaj back to the church if he came in. Blinsky said he kept an eye on all the children. The monkey shat on Sable's shoe. Sable raised her crossbow. She put it down. They left.

The Blue Water Inn — Isaac. The party regrouped at the inn. The wolf hunters weren't there. The usual townsfolk were, and also a large, angry-looking bald man eating alone. Danica identified him quietly as Isaac, a henchman of Baron Vallakovich, the Burgomaster of Vallaki.

Isaac was, in order: very large, eating, annoyed by Sable's opening gambit about Ireena, revealed to have a fiendish arm replacing where a normal arm should be (elongated fingers, long nails, barbed spines, flame patterns down the flesh, actual flames when flexed), in possession of two axes, and disinclined toward Sable's line of questioning. He put his hands on the axes. Sable put a hand on her crossbow. Merich readied Hold Person. The standoff lasted until Celeste arrived with three drinks and a compliment about his axes, scored a Performance of 24, and redirected the entire interaction.

Isaac's story, told across several rounds of drinks: orphaned in childhood after a dire wolf attack on Lake Zarovich that took his arm and then his parents; raised by Baron Vallakovich from a young age; completely loyal. His demon arm appeared one morning after a night of heavy drinking — no arm when he went to sleep, remarkable arm when he woke up, no memory of the intervening hours, no explanation sought.

He also dreams of a woman he doesn't know. For years. She feels important to him. He has been commissioning Blinsky to make dolls of her because he can't draw her well enough himself, and none of the dolls have ever been quite right. Brother Moro sketched Ireena from memory with a Performance of 18. Isaac stood up so fast his chair flew backwards.

The party declined to tell him where she was. Celeste tried, and failed, to explain why. Eventually — partly through persistence and partly through Merich and Celeste rolling a combined Persuasion of 27 on a redirect — Isaac was pointed toward the village of Barovia and told that was the last known location. Which is technically true. He saddled his horse and left town.

Whether sending a man with a demon arm and an obsessive fixation toward the church where Ireena's brother is staying was the correct decision remains to be seen.

End of Session. The party has not found Milovaj, the bones, or Arabelle. They have: acquired a lead on the coffin-maker; received a quest to search Lake Zarovich for a missing child; learned that Isaac's demon arm appeared after a blackout, which is the most Barovia thing that has ever happened; and identified a potential way out of Barovia contingent on finding Arabelle alive. Isaac is on a horse heading toward a vampire spawn.

The DM said next session: if nobody dies, the party levels up.

Key Decisions

NPCs Met

Locations Visited

Items Found

Loose Threads