Act 1, Scene 8: Vallaki: Shopping Episode

The following morning saw our heroes trying to make the best of their time in Vallaki, whatever troubles might await them. With Ayduin still exhausted and all of them still recovering from the wounds both physical and emotional they'd received over the last several days, they agreed to focus on resting, recuperating, and trying to stay out of trouble while in Vallaki. Ireena insisted that they should go and make their introductions to the burgomaster and make sure he knew they weren't a threat as quickly as possible — it was agreed that prior to this, they should probably get some less tattered, blood-stained clothes, in order to make a good impression. Speaking of good impressions, Ri-An and Ayduin both failed in spectacular fashion to make Ri-An look like a person, but thankfully Sylvain swept in and, once again mirroring Ayduin's previous feats, fixed everything with a bit of savvy blending.

Several of our heroes had errands they wanted to run, to pick up various supplies and see what information they could gather around town. It was agreed that they would look into new clothing first and foremost, then run errands, pay their respects to the burgomaster, and pass by St. Andral's Church to confirm whether or not it indeed offered the sanctuary Ireena so sorely needed. They asked Danica for directions to various amenities, and she gave them the names of and directions to various stores around Vallaki, as well as other options outside town to explore — including a haunted mansion to the southwest, where it's claimed a dragon once lived.

Cue significant looks between our heroes.

After some discussion of where our heroes might find work, Danica also called Urwin over, and he admitted that the Wizards of Wine winery, which his family ran, was late on their latest delivery. The delivery was over a week overdue, and unless it arrived soon, they would be running out of wine any day now. If our heroes were able to look into the matter for him — the winery being, like so many locations, to the southwest of Vallaki — he would be happy to pay in some way or another.

Cue significant looks between our heroes at the horrific prospect of a dry Barovia.

Bidding farewell to the Martikovs, they made their way to the town square, trying not to be too overwhelmed at the sight of the gallows and the stocks, where children and the elderly appeared to be among those sporting plaster donkey's heads, locked up for whatever crimes they'd committed. (Judging by the girth of Vallaki's law book, there were a lot of options to choose from.) Finding the tailor quickly enough, they met the giant of a man named Savva and his petite wife Anfisa, and the pair began fussing over how best to outfit the party according to their needs. While some were able to purchase what they sought right away, others would require a bit of tailoring before their clothes would be up to the tailors' standards, and Ri-An's request would involve rushing to make a fine dress from scratch in a matter of hours. Upon paying in full for what they could take with them and paying half of what they'd pick up that afternoon, our heroes continued on, eager to see what else they could find around Vallaki.

As it turns out, most of their needs were easy to meet. They found several books to serve a variety of purposes, and in exchange for helping tune up a printing press, Ri-An received several components of a diplomat's pack at a healthy discount. They found someone willing to silver weapons, though it was agreed that the price of 100 gp per weapon was... beyond their means, for the moment. Weirdly enough, the general store did not have air elemental wisps, but the apothecary on the north side of town did. Ri-An confessed their diplomatic ambitions to Sylvain. The group received an invitation courtesy of an errand boy to dine with the Lady Wachter and Vasili von Holtz that evening and, not eager to make any prominent enemies while in Vallaki, they accepted.

It wasn't long after they made their way to St. Andral's Church that the day began to take a turn for the worse. Shortly after making their introductions to the priest, Father Lucian Petrovich, and the altar boy Yeska, our heroes found themselves invited into Petrovich's office. Here, he made a dire confession: St. Andral's had indeed been hallowed ground for centuries, but as of a few days ago, this was no longer the case: someone had stolen the bones of the saint from the secret altar beneath the church, and unless those bones were restored to their rightful place, nowhere in Vallaki was truly safe from creatures such as Strahd.

When asked who he thought might have taken the bones, the priest confessed that only he and the altar boy had known of their existence and location. However, he suspected that Yeska had told Milivoj, the church's gravedigger and groundskeeper — not least because Milivoj had not come to work since Petrovich had noticed the bones' disappearance.

He advised the group that Milivoj was an orphan, like Yeska, and that he spent most of his time at the orphanage across the street. If our heroes could find Milvioj and find out whether or not he had taken the bones, they had a chance at restoring the church's hallowed status, and ensuring some small patch of safety for Ireena.

So the group, by now resigned to things always going wrong in Barovia, agreed to look into the matter, and made their way across the street to the Orphanage of St. Andral.

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