Session Eighteen

***Besides yourselves and the soft sounds of the Martikov's preparing breakfast, the Blue Water Inn is quiet and empty, and the air is filled with the scent of the food being cooked. The lamps have been lit, brightening the taproom far more than the grey light of Barovia would normally allow from where it peeks through the still-shuttered windows, as if seeking a way inside. Without Dakira's hands on his shoulders, Ismark slumps slightly in his barstool like a doll thrown away into a distant corner, as though whatever energy he had this morning had left him in the rush of words. The door to the kitchen swings open, and Ismark takes a breath and pulls himself upright as an older man steps out into the taproom and moves to take his place behind the bar, his hair and beard streaked with grey, and his dark eyes are moving over each of you.***

## The Party

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

## About Town

Urwin Martikov greeted the party and asked if they would like breakfast. He told them the menu, but said that there would be no wine available this morning, as the latest shipment was late to the point that they were running low on their current supplies. When the party asked for food that they could take with them on the road, Urwin asked if they could go check the winery to see what was wrong. The party agreed, and Urwin told them it was only a few miles away, between Vallaki and Krezk, and that as they traveled west along the road to look for signs for "The Wizards of Wine." Tansy and Devi noted, though did not mention, that such a name had come up in their card reading. He added that if they brought him the wine, the party would receieve a discount, then stepped into the kitchen, returning with the offered food.

With their food, garland, and this new goal in mind, the party left the inn and began to make their way to the church. Along the way they passed a sign announcing "The Festival of the Blazing Sun" hanging from a post on the side of the road. Tansy noted that she had yet to see any 'shine,' while Devi asked if they couldn't just leave town before they would be forced into this strange festival. Alyssandra dryly pointed out the sign promised that "all will be well," to which Tansy said that if things were going to be well, they could be well outside of town, too.

Dakira asked Ismark what these festivals were, saying the flyers seemed ominous. Ismark could only offer so much, explaining that no two festivals were the same, despite the burgomaster throwing one every few days; the last one he experienced had involved dancing from dawn till dusk, he wagered that the wolf heads arranged along the roads outside of town were likely another festival, and that another one he knew of had involved the burgomaster setting the graveyard on fire. This last one got a reaction from Alyssandra as she questioned why someone would do that, clearly disgusted at the idea of setting fire to a graveyard. Ismark said that it was supposed to purify the graveyard, or something to that effect, which both Devi and Alyssandra said was an insane idea, and would probably just make it worse.

Ismark agreed, saying almost everyone considered the burgomaster a madwoman, even those few who held onto the belief that her festivals actually did anything to protect them from Strahd. It was up for "very, very quiet, private debate" he said, because, for one thing, Strahd had not been seen in or near Vallaki in decades, but on the other hand, Strahd rarely made appearances anywhere.

### To the Chapel

The party arrived at the church to find a young man cleaning the graveyard after the night's storm, and another, much older man who emerged from inside the church as they approached. Tansy called out to ask if either of them were the burgomaster's brother-in-law, causing the older man to approach them, while the younger man in the graveyard snidely muttered something too quietly for them to hear. Ismark presented him with the garland of small suns that he had been asked to deliver, and Father Petrovich took it, hanging it just inside the doorway.

Before the party could leave, Father Petrovich returned from his task of hanging up the garland and asked if they were all outsiders, and if they had spoken to anyone in town yet. On confirmation that yes, they were outsiders, and that they had only briefly spoken to very few people, the priest declared that the party had clearly been sent by the gods to help him. The party questioned what he meant by that, and Father Petrovich went on to explain that someone in Vallaki had "desecrated a temple to the gods" and that, naturally, it fell to the servants of the gods to find and punish this person.

While the rest of the party protested this new development, especially as they wanted to get out of Vallaki as soon as possible to avoid the festival, Alyssandra instantly took this as her duty and asked for further details. Father Petrovich said he did not want the whole town to hear every detail, but that there was only one person he had told how and where to find the bones, and that the boy was refusing to admit his guilt one way or another, and that while he had told Yeska  about the bones and how to reach them well over a month ago, he had only discovered the bones missing a week before. Because Yeska would neither confess to having told someone, nor confess to having taken them himself, Father Petrovich was having the boy clean the entire church from top to bottom "until he has been cleansed as well."

As the priest returned inside the church to make further preperations for tomorrow's festival, the party discussed what to do. They eventually decided that Tansy, Dakira, and Ismark would go inside to talk to Yeska, being more personable in comparison to Alyssandra and Devi, to at least be able to tell Father Petrovich that they had tried, and if Yeska told them nothing, they could try to convince the priest he was innocent.

### Questions

Leaving Devi and Alyssandra outside, the other three went in to speak to Yeska, finding him cleaning the large statue behind the altar. He was reluctant to talk to them, and continued to insist that he had never told anyone about the bones, just like he had told Father Petrovich. After continuing to press him, however, the boy began to crack, revealing that he had told someone but that if he tells Father Petrovich who it was then the person would be punished, and "his sisters end up like me."

On learning that he was trying to protect someone, Tansy said she was more concerned about the living than a dead saint, and asked if there was any way to help this person. Yeska asked if they knew how to bring people back from the dead. Ismark sadly replied that he didn't know if anyone could do such a thing.

Outside, Devi and Alyssandra's conversation about the upcoming festival and their desire to avoid it was briefly inturrupted by curiosity, as the teenager who was cleaning the graveyard had finished and was now leaving, muttering under his breath as he went. Devi was unable to understand him, but Merletta informed Alyssandra that it was nothing important, he had only been complaining about his job.

## Things Obtained

* Breakfast.
* Two more quests.
* More awareness of life in Vallaki.
* More knowledge about the upcoming festival.

## Developments

The party has been asked to check on The Wizard of Wines winery, and offered a discount at the Blue Water Inn if they bring back a shipment.

The party has discovered just what the upcoming festival is: The Festival of the Blazing Sun.

The party has learned of the theft of the bones of Saint Andral.