Session Twenty Three

***All around you are signs of order being restored: a guard circling the stockyard, shopkeepers cleaning the areas outside their shops, the town of Vallaki going back to its usual quiet ambiance, broken only by the distant sounds of wheels moving over gravel and the cries of ravens. It would seem that the worst is over, for now, and though the townspeople shoot you curious and cautious looks from time to time, nothing and no one interferes with Tansy and Devi's search for clues. A raven perched on top of the painted wagon caws and stretches its wings before flying across the stockyard and landing atop the coffin shop's sign, and you see that it is not alone in approaching your group.***

## The Party

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

## Discovery

The party found unfamiliar faces joining them outside the coffin shop while Tansy and Devi searched around the outside of the coffin shop. The first was a firbolg woman who asked if they were the other outsiders that she was looking for, to which Alyssandra replied that they were, and that judging by her appearance so was she. Ismark chimed in to say that he was not one of the outsiders, unfortunately. The firbolg introduced herself as Kriswyn, and asked if the rest of the party was from Faerun as well. Alyssandra said yes, while Devi shrank away from the newcomer and instead tried to offer Merletta some dried peas, and Dakira nodded but did not trust the newcomer with more than that.

While Devi tried to get Merletta to eat a pea, and Alyssandra convinced her to just go along with it, much to Merletta's exasperation, Devi suggested trying to use Merletta to speak to the other ravens. Alyssandra turned down the idea, saying Merletta was a familiar and not a true raven. Kriswyn offered to try to talk to the ravens, but first asked about what had happened to the town, motioning to the still obvious signs of the earlier rampage. As Clara approached the group, Ismark explained the vampires and their attempt to stop them, the mention of vampires piquing her curiosity, and she introduced herself.

### Inquiry

Introductions made, Kriswyn asked what the party would like her to ask the ravens. While the party decided on what to ask, Ismark asked Kriswyn if she could really talk to the ravens, and she said yes, though they normally do not talk back, causing Ismark to question if that was any different than most people.

Devi peeked out from behind Alyssandra, telling Kriswyn to ask the raven where the gnomish vampire spawn had gone, or if the ravens had seen the bones. Kriswyn, who found Devi's shyness endearing, nodded and began to have what appeared to be a one-sided conversation with the raven perched on the coffin shop's sign, offering it some bread in return for answers as to where the vampire spawn had taken the bones. Unfortunately, the raven had no answers, but Kriswyn loudly declared that any raven who did know could have something shiny as a reward.

The raven lifted off and flew away, and Kriswyn reported to the others that it didn't seem to have any clue. Alyssandra pondered if they should follow the raven, but Kriswyn said that it would be faster to just wait, and maybe another raven would show up. The raven, meanwhile, circled back around to land behind Kriswyn and nipped at her tail before flying away again, and with a laugh she began to follow the raven. Devi and Dakira discussed if they should follow her or not before deciding this was, unfortunately, the best lead they had.

The journey led the party out of the stockyard and down the main road through town, and after several minutes of walking, the party found that the raven had led them back to the Blue Water Inn.

### Ravens' Loft

Though the party was ready to enter the inn, their raven guide led them around to the rear and pecked at the stable door. Wary and convinced there would be vampires within, the party cautiously opened the stable door, though found nothing but an empty stable strewn with hay, a ladder, and dozens of ravens staring down at them. The raven flew up into the loft overhead, where the party heard the sound of many, many other ravens.

Devi climbed the ladder alone, and found the hayloft was populated by hundreds of ravens, and also found a doorlike shape in the wall. Pushing it open, she found herself in a large bedroom which contained a wardrobe, a bed, a night table, a lit fireplace, a long tapestry, and nothing else. No matter how much she searched, she found nothing of interest or value, or even simple living things such as mirrors, jewelry, money, anything sitting on the mantle over the fireplace, or anything expected from a bedroom.

Down below, the party waited for some sign of her, while a raven returned from the loft above and landed on the rungs of the ladder. Kriswyn thanked it, and handed it a gold coin, which the raven took into its beak before flying back up.

Above, some of the ravens had followed Devi into the bedroom and were watching her search. Devi herself had noticed that the ceiling in the southeast corner of the room seemed out of place, and finding herself several feet too short to reach it, looked around the room for something to move so she might be able to climb up onto it and reach the ceiling. She heard Kriswyn calling her from the stables below, but did not answer, which combined with the new light that the party could see coming from the loft to make them both curious and concerned, and began to climb up as Devi settled on pushing the nearby wardrobe across the floor.

The party arrived in the bedroom to find Devi moving the furniture, climbing on top of it, and poking at the ceiling while a flock of ravens watched her. Kriswyn sprinkled some bread crumbs around for them, which a few of the ravens pecked at. Alyssandra hesitantly petted one of the ravens while Dakira asked Devi what she was doing, who responded by pointing at the misaligned corner of the ceiling. Kriswyn asked what it was, and Devi sighed, grumbling in undercommon that they'd all be dead for being so loud in the Underdark. Alyssandra, stroking one of the ravens, agreed, though added they were more likely to have been enslaved.

Switching back to common, Devi explained that she had found a door in the ceiling, and that she suspected that the ravens suspected the vampire spawn had taken the bones into the attic, especially with how difficult it was to reach without the ability to climb walls. Kriswyn and Clara joined the effort to force the ceiling open, with Kriswyn's height allowing her to reach up and touch it, and Clara summoned a spectral, skeletal hand which pushed against the door, an event which stunned her. The door in the ceiling refused to budge, however, and the regular door to the room opened as they continued to try.

Urwin Martikov stepped into the room, looking unimpressed as he closed the door behind him and looked from the party to the ravens on the bed. Addressing one raven in particular, he told it that it could have stopped them from coming in, then asked the party what they were doing. Kriswyn apologized for bribing the ravens, and Dakira told him that he had vampires in his ceiling. Urwin sighed and told "Brom" to go help his mother, prompting one of the ravens to shift into a young human child who hurried out the door with a quick "yes uncle," then moved toward the ravens on the bed and held out his hand for the gold coin, which was dropped into his hand. Turning his attention back to the party, Urwin said simply that he very much doubted that.

### Artifacts

Recalling the card reading from Madam Eva, Alyssandra asked if he had seen a sword, and Urwin replied that he had seen many swords in his time, and Alyssandra clarified that she meant a sword made of sunlight. She continued, explaining that Madam Eva had said it was near a nest of ravens. With a glance at the party still trying to force the door open, Urwin told them his sister wouldn't approve of their climbing on the furniture before saying that if they did have such a sword in their attic, it would be foolish to simply pass such an item off to just anyone, to say nothing of the harm that it could cause if it fell into the wrong hands.

Kriswyn noted he was very calm about finding several armed people in his room, and asked for his name, while Devi asked from behind Alyssandra if he could ask the ravens if they knew which way the vampire spawn had gone with the bones. Urwin introduced himself before passing the question along to the ravens, and after a chorus of squawking and chittering, he reported that the vampire spawn had run to the south, stopping at the Vistani encampment to the south, though the Vistani have left since then. Kriswyn nodded, saying she saw them leave.

   Alyssandra asked if he could talk to ravens, and Urwin said that he could, with magic, though added it wasn't always necessary. Kriswyn asked about the boy, and how he could turn into a raven, while Alyssandra asked if they had instructed the ravens to watch them or if they did it of their own volition. He responded by saying that the ravens watched all of Barovia, not just them, and that like many of the recipes the inn made in their kitchen, the truth about the ravens was "a family secret." Kriswyn decided that was fair enough.

The party asked why the ravens had led them to the inn, and if the vampire spawn had stopped here, and, again, about the sword. He said that between himself, his sister, and the ravens they had been able to fend off the vampire spawn, keeping the inn and the people inside of it safe. As for the sword, he stressed that the party was not the first group of outsiders that had been through Barovia; over the centuries, many outsiders had come through the mists to become trapped within the valley, and many outsiders and native Barovians both had risen up against Strahd throughout history, and that every one of them had been slaughtered, or worse. If he were to hand over the sword to them, and Strahd or his minions simply pried it off their bodies after leaving them for dead, it would be a terrible fate for more than just the party.

The party - minus Clara, who was busy suffering from disillusionment over vampires not being like her Anne Rice novels - attempted to bargain with him, agreeing with his position that if it truly is such a powerful artifact then naturally he wishes to keep it out of Strahd's hands, but they were not so easy to kill, and if they simply locked the sword away for fear of losing it, then it was little more than a paperweight. Urwin relented somewhat, and offered them a chance to prove themselves.

The winery. He told them that the lands west of Vallaki may not hold Castle Ravenloft, but the lands and ruins were far more dangerous, especially to the unprepared. While he normally would consider interacting with his father enough of a trial for anyone, he offered that if the party could go to the winery, discover what was wrong, and then return alive, he would give them the sword. The party agreed, especially as they had to visit the winery for another of the artifacts from the reading, and Kriswyn mentioned that the Vistani had said the winery "drying up" was part of why they were leaving.

Urwin repeated his instructions from earlier that morning to follow the road west and keep an eye open for the signs that would point the way, and the journey would take perhaps two hours. Deciding there was nothing keeping them in Vallaki now that they had lost the bones, and there were more important things to deal with beyond Vallaki, the party decided to set out as soon as possible.

Kriswyn mentioned that she had been west of the town herself, though not as far as the winery, and when questioned she explained that she had been helping a Vistani child return home. She added that while she had been in their camp, they had said they also lost contact with the winery, and that it was being menaced by feral druids. Urwin said that the druids of Barovia had been menacing the winery since before he was born, though he had no idea of why they hated the place so much besides madness, having become as hateful and tainted as the land itself in their worship of Strahd.

Before leaving, the party asked if he could tell them anything else about the winery, but he had very little left to offer, and even less that would be useful to them. He told the party that the grapes do not grow naturally, so his family needs to use magic to keep the vineyard alive, and that his father is a "cantankerous old bastard," and that with what would be a six hour journey to the winery and back, they should leave as soon as possible, as it would be getting dark by the time they returned, and Barovia was far more hazardous at night.

Alyssandra thanked him as the party began to leave the way they came, the wardrobe now back where it belonged, and apologized for their intrusion.

### And Effect

Once they were outside again, Alyssandra commented that it was interesting to meet wereravens, and that she hoped they would prove trustworthy. The party questioned what she meant by that, and she told them that the book she had bought back in the village of Barovia had a large amount of information on various lycanthropes, including wereravens, though she admitted Merletta had noticed before she had herself.

As the party returned to the streets of Vallaki, Kriswyn asked everyone for their names, and as the party introduced themselves, she attempted to use *Druidcraft* to check the weather, the result being a large black cloud that hovered over her hand.

The party walked for several minutes, making their way westward, and arrived in front of the church to see that it had suffered under the vampire spawn more than most of the other buildings they had seen. The windows were all shattered, the ornate wooden doors torn from their hingest, much of the visible interior smashed and thrown into disarray, blood soaking into the ground below a particular section of the iron fence as if someone had been impaled there, and there was a wagon full of corpses sitting out in the street in front of the church.

Alarmed, Kriswyn asked if the party had seen the fighting, and Dakira looked around for any sign of the little boy.

## Things Gained

* Two (2) new party members.
* Not the bones.
* The exact location of one of the artifacts from the reading.
* Knowledge that Barovia has wereravens.
* More knowledge about the Wizard of Wines winery.
* The same quest Urwin gave them last time, but with a bigger reward.
* The discovery of the now-ruined church.

## Developments

The party has been joined by Kriswyn and Clara.

The party has learned about the existence of wereravens.

The party is aware the bones are long gone, having first been stolen almost two hours ago by now.

The party was offered the chance to prove themselves in order to receive the sword that the Martikov's are keeping in their attic.

The party is leaving Vallaki.