Paladin's Hold

## Summary

Talice and Jade have some girl talk. The party also catches Salem up on current events. Stella Wacther is put under intensive guard. Krik has another drinking contest with Jade, Salem and Talice. Edmund inhales some liquor fumes but spills some on himself. Jade goes down first and throws up in the bucket. Krik ends up winning again so the innkeepers start thinking about selling coffee. Talice tries leaving in her drunken stupor but Edmund pulls her back.

Edmund burns some incense with a candle to sober them up. He suggests going to Blinsky toys and Talice agrees. He leaves 20 gold coins with the innkeepers as charity before. They arrive at Blinsky toys and the toys Gadof sells are macabre and odd in nature. The monkey he as is the same one that Rictavio had and is helpful around the shop. The group wonders why Rictavio would give away a monkey especially when Talice had such a hard time pulling one away from him. When asking about the doll at Mad Mary's house, he remembered a little girl wanted him to make it with specific instructions. There was someone escorting her who Warwick thinks is Strahd. He ends up scaring Gadof accidentally. He also mentions that the innkeeper asked to make the black rocking horse at the Wizard's Winery.

He mentions keeping a log and Talice tries to charm him saying people have gone missing. The charm works Gadof brings out the logs telling he'll do whatever he can to help. Warwick falls looking through the papers and asks for a doll of Sorin much to his dismay. Gadof gets to work on it for 9 copper pieces. While looking through the papers, Jade spots a red inked log that was actually Strahd's commission. Thanks to Talice's charm, he manages to calm down and show him a picture of the doll's look-alike, Ireena, who lives in the Village of Barovia.

Having gained a person of interest, the party decides to leave with Jade making a commission with 2 silver pieces. The party then decides to put the dog to good use and use him to track the head of the druid much to Warwick and Sorin's dismay. Talice and Salem investigate a grave on the way there and find a skeleton clutching a potion of healing. Talice lets Salem have it and Salem makes the victim rise and calls him Sam.

The party eventually arrives at a ruined fortress known as Argynvostholt. The group passes by the front silver dragon statue (not made of silver) and enters the fortress through the side entrance in the destroyed tower. Giant spiders attack right away and Warwick takes care of it.

They find a man named Savid in the wine storage that needs healing. Edmund gives him some health and the man reveals he's from a Vistani Camp looking for one of the lost kids. He tells the story of Argynvostholt and joins the party briefly. The party finds a fiery dragon in a hidden room and it kills Kvak. Thankfully Salem summons it back but as a skeleton while Sam falls apart and Savid dies.

As they climb up the fortress, Warwick spots a revenant slumped on the throne. When the party approaches, the revenant goes on about how Strahd killed his leader, Argynvost. He want Strahd to suffer in his own dominion and doesn't heed the party's words. It eventually becomes clear that this revenant isn't attacking the party of his own volition so the party retreats.

The party splits up and Warwick makes it to the top of the fortress. He finds a beacon but has nothing to activate it and the group is forced to retreat. They managed to escape but now are forced to head back to Vallaki while weakened.

## Notable Events

* There was a storm in England so BritishNinja's connection was rocky
* Krik wins another drinking contest
* The party meets Gadof Blinsky
* Joshscorcher was not expecting the party to find Argynvostholt
* The party encounters a Vistani man named Savid only to get him killed by a fiery dragon spirit
* The party nearly reaches the top of the fort only to find the key to activating the beacon missing