Session Twenty Two

***The vampire spawn lies dead in the middle of the main road that cuts through Vallaki, and you notice that, for better or worse, the screams have begun to die down. As Ismark drops his hand from his neck, satisfied that he's staunched the bleeding for now, something else also falls. From out of the overcast sky dives a single raven, stopping just before it touches the ground in front of you, flying in a circle around your group, and then flying off down a side street to the south. Before you are able to react, a second one appears, repeating the first raven's behavior.***

 The Party

* Alyssandra, the Human Paladin/Warlock.
* Dakira, the Dragonborn Bard.
* Devi, the Drow Paladin.
* Tansy, the Tiefling Light Cleric.

## Seeking

Having defeated the vampire spawn, the party had a moment to rest before a raven swooped down, did a loop around them, and then flew down a nearby side-street. A second raven quickly flew down as well, doing the same thing. Tansy wondered if they should follow them, but Alyssandra had already began walking after them, leaving the rest of the party to follow. The street was a winding one, but eventually it led them to Vallaki's town square.

The town square had obviously been targeted by the vampire spawn, especially the people who had been left in the stocks and made for easy prey, though one had been torn free of the stocks and was now missing a head and both hands. Many of the storefronts had been destroyed, or at least damaged. To the west a large, ancient stone fountain had been scarred, but had not fared as badly as the corpses in and around it. Two ravens perched on top of the statue in the middle of the fountain, watching the party as they walked further into the town square, where they noticed Devi's body laying in the same pool of blood as three guards.

### Reunion

While Dakira looked over the area to make sure it was safe, Alyssandra rushed to Devi and was able to discern that she was still breathing, but it was very shallow, and her injuries very severe. The others joined her, standing over Devi. Using a healing spell, Alyssandra was able to restore Devi, and as soon as Devi gasped awake, the two ravens watching on the statue took flight and returned to join the others circling over Vallaki.

Devi immediately began apologizing for her failure, that there was only one of them but she couldn't even protect the people from that one. Alyssandra told her not to talk like that, warning her that she might have died, a fate Alyssandra was beginning to suspect would leave a soul trapped in Barovia even in death. The rest of the party was quick to offer Devi support, Dakira saying it was foolish but noble, while Ismark and Tansy said that even if she failed it was better than having done nothing.

Having found their missing party member, the party needed to decide what to do next, as the vampire spawn were still loose in the town, they were all injured and lacking in resources, and they had not recovered the bones before going to look for Devi. They decided they were in no shape to battle more vampire spawn, and instead returned to the coffin shop to get the bones and Devi's mace.

### Healing

Returning through the stockyard, their progress was watched by a raven resting on the wheel of the overturned wagon. Stepping into the shop, the party was greeted by the sight of Henrik's corpse slumped in a chair with a bite wound to his neck. Devi went upstairs to retrieve her mace, with Ismark joining her to make sure it was safe, and the two of them also searched the rooms upstairs, finally coming to the one they had not searched before.

Inside, they found Henrik's bedroom, everything covered in a layer of dust that was almost entirely undisturbed except for the set of very small footprints that led from the wardrobe to the broken window. Looking inside the wardrobe, she found a uneven patch of dustless space on one of the shelves, as though something had been removed very recently. The rest of the party arrived to find Devi hitting her head against the wall, and she explained to them that the bones had gone missing.

Still in no shape to fight, the party decided to rest in Henrik's shop, securing the building as much as they could. While Tansy, Dakira, and Ismark searched through the shop for anything to eat or drink, Devi and Alyssandra had a short and awkward conversation upstairs after Devi asked Alyssandra what had led her into the Raven Queen's service. The other three, unable to find anything in the kitchen above, left the two alone upstairs, where Alyssandra explained that she had been taken to a small town that was built around the worship of the Raven Queen by one of her clerics after Alyssandra's parents were killed by necromancers.

After an awkward attempt at flirting, Devi quickly went downstairs to see if the others had found anything to eat. Alyssandra joined them not long after, and overhearing Ismark's comment about the lack of silverware in the shop, she told him she had taken it in order to attempt to file it down into powder to use in creating more holy water, though she doubted she had enough. When the party was finished eating, they discussed what they should do next, and eventually decided on trying to track down the vampire spawn that had taken the bones.

### Clues

Alyssandra and Ismark pointed out that the bones were probably long gone, especially if they had been taken not long after the party had disturbed the vampire spawn from their slumber, and by now they could be halfway to Castle Ravenloft, or thrown into the river, or scattered through the woods for all they knew. Devi agreed, but said that they wouldn't know until they tried, starting with just below the broken window.

The party went back outside, where they saw that in the time that had passed the town seemed to have returned to normal. Alyssandra looked around for any more ravens behaving strangely, while Tansy and Devi began to scour the area outside the shop, hoping to find some clues as to where the vampire spawn had been or gone. The vampire spawn, unfortunately, did not seem to leave many tracks behind. But they were both able to tell that what were the footprints left by the vampire spawn escaping with the bones were pointing in a south or eastern direction, though if the vampire spawn had continued in those directions or changed once they had landed remained unknown.

## Things Gained

* Devi.
* Devi's mace.
* Still not the bones.
* A handful of missing vampire spawn.

## Developments

The party found and healed Devi.

The party has taken a short rest.

The vampire spawn got bored and left.

The party has decided to look for the bones and the vampire spawn that took them.

Alyssandra has finally taken notice of the ravens and their strange behavior.